Colgate-Palmolive Stock Has Returned Just 6% Since Late 2017- Here’s Why
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) stock price gained just 6% from $75 in 2017 end to around $80 currently, primarily due to favorable changes in its revenues. During this period, the company witnessed a strong 15% rise in revenues, and combined with a drop in its outstanding share count, its revenue per share actually rose 20%. However, due to a pullback in its P/S multiple over this period, the company managed to gain only 6%. Additionally, over the same period, the S&P 500 returned around 50%, meaning that CL stock underperformed the broader markets since 2017-end.
In our interactive dashboard, Why Colgate-Palmolive Stock Moved: CL Stock Has Gained 6% Since 2017, we break down the factors behind this move.
(A) Colgate-Palmolive’s Total Revenue has grown 15% from $15.5 billion in FY 2017 to $17.7 billion on an LTM basis
- CL’s total revenue rose steadily from $15.5 billion in FY ’17 to $17.4 billion in FY ’21, and demand has picked up strongly since the pandemic, with sales rising to $17.7 billion currently.
- Colgate-Palmolive is a leading producer and distributor of household, health care, personal care, and veterinary products, operating in markets across the world.
- As of FY ’21, Oral, Personal and Home Care sales make up the bulk of CL’s total sales at 81%, with Pet Nutrition making up the remaining 19%.
- For additional details about CL’s revenues and comparison to peers, see Colgate-Palmolive (CL) Revenue Comparison
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(B) Revenue per share (RPS) increased 20% from $17.56 in FY 2017 to $21.13 currently
- Colgate-Palmolive revenue rose from $15.5 billion in FY ’17 to $17.7 billion currently, while the outstanding share count decreased from around 880 million in FY 2017 to just a little under 840 million currently.
- Due to this, RPS has jumped from $17.56 in FY ’17 to $21.13 currently.
(C) Price-To-Sales (P/S) multiple for Colgate-Palmolive dropped strongly from 4x in 2017 end to 3.1x by 2018 end but has since pulled back to 3.8x currently, still around 5% lower than what it was in late 2017
- Colgate-Palmolive’s performance since 2017-end first saw its P/S multiple drop from 4x in 2017 to 3.1x in 2018, before rising to as high as 4.2x by 2020 end.
- Despite CL’s strong and consistent sales performance since 2018 and increased demand, the P/S multiple has dropped to 3.8x currently due to increased uncertainty surrounding global economic conditions.
- For additional details about the company’s historical returns and comparison to peers, see Colgate-Palmolive (CL) Stock Return.
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| Returns | Aug 2022 MTD [1] |
2022 YTD [1] |
2017-22 Total [2] |
| CL Return | 1% | -6% | 22% |
| S&P 500 Return | 0% | -14% | 84% |
| Trefis Multi-Strategy Portfolio | 3% | -11% | 251% |
[1] Month-to-date and year-to-date as of 8/5/2022
[2] Cumulative total returns since the end of 2016
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