Consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 4.9% year on year to $5.36 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.99 per share was 4.5% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) today reported results for second quarter 2026. Noel Wallace, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented on the Base Business second quarter results, “Our growth momentum continued in the second quarter, as we delivered strong broad-based top- and bottom-line results, despite a difficult operating environment. Net sales and organic sales grew in three of four categories and in four of five divisions with worldwide organic volume growth improving sequentially for the third consecutive quarter. Gross profit margin, operating profit, operating profit margin, net income, earnings per share and free cash flow all increased year over year.

Company Overview

Formed after the 1928 combination between toothpaste maker Colgate and soap maker Palmolive-Peet, Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is a consumer products company that focuses on personal, household, and pet products.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years.

With $21.05 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Colgate-Palmolive is one of the most widely recognized consumer staples companies. Its influence over consumers gives it negotiating leverage with distributors, enabling it to pick and choose where it sells its products (a luxury many don’t have). However, its scale is a double-edged sword because there are only a finite number of major retail partners, placing a ceiling on its growth. To accelerate sales, Colgate-Palmolive likely needs to optimize its pricing or lean into new products and international expansion.

As you can see below, Colgate-Palmolive’s 4.1% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was sluggish, but to its credit, consumers bought more of its products.

This quarter, Colgate-Palmolive grew its revenue by 4.9% year on year, and its $5.36 billion of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 3.3% over the next 12 months, similar to its three-year rate. This projection is underwhelming and implies its newer products will not lead to better top-line performance yet. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.

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Volume Growth

Revenue growth can be broken down into changes in price and volume (the number of units sold). While both are important, volume is the lifeblood of a successful staples business as there’s a ceiling to what consumers will pay for everyday goods; they can always trade down to non-branded products if the branded versions are too expensive.

To analyze whether Colgate-Palmolive generated its growth from changes in price or volume, we can compare its volume growth to its organic revenue growth, which excludes non-fundamental impacts on company financials like mergers and currency fluctuations.

Over the last two years, Colgate-Palmolive’s quarterly sales volumes have, on average, stayed about the same. This stability is normal as the quantity demanded for consumer staples products typically doesn’t see much volatility. The company’s flat volumes also indicate its average organic revenue growth of 2.8% was generated from price increases.

In Colgate-Palmolive’s Q2 2026, year on year sales volumes were flat. This result was more or less in line with its historical levels.

Key Takeaways from Colgate-Palmolive’s Q2 Results

It was encouraging to see Colgate-Palmolive beat analysts’ gross margin expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this was a decent quarter. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 2.6% to $89.26 immediately after reporting.

So should you invest in Colgate-Palmolive right now? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).