Published on 26 Apr 2024 on Benzinga
Colgate Stock Up on Q1 Earnings & Sales Beat, Raised View - Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH),...
Colgate-Palmolive Company CL has reported first-quarter 2024 results, wherein the top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved year over year. Results have benefited from strong top-line growth, improved organic volume performance, and gross and operating profit margin expansions. Notably, the company delivered double-digit growth in operating profit, net income and earnings per share for the third consecutive quarter.
On a Base Business basis (non-GAAP basis), earnings were 86 cents per share, up 18% from the prior-year period. The bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents.
Net sales of $5,065 million increased 6.2% from the year-ago quarter and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,951 million. On an organic basis, the company's sales advanced 9.8%. The sales momentum was mainly driven by organic sales growth in each of the six divisions and across all four categories. The rise was also aided by mid-teen growth in oral care compared with double-digit growth last year.
Following the strong first-quarter 2024 results, shares of Colgate rallied 1.7% in the pre-market trading session on Apr 26, 2024. Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have rallied 6.4% in the past three months compared with the industry's growth of 4.5%.
Total volumes were up 1.3% year over year on an organic and reported basis, attributed to sequential growth in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, pricing improved 8.5%, backed by positive pricing across all six divisions. Currency negatively impacted sales growth by 3.6% in the quarter. Strong currency in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Europe was more than offset by weakness in Argentina, Türkiye and Nigeria.
We estimated organic sales growth of 4.3% for the first quarter, with a 7.8% rise in pricing and a 3.5% decline in volume.
Gross profit of $3,039 million increased 12.1% year over year. The gross profit margin expanded 310 basis points (bps) to 60% on both GAAP and adjusted basis. We expected a gross margin expansion of 150 bps to 58.4% for the first quarter.