Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) reported Q1 EPS of $0.82, in-line with the analyst estimate of $0.82. Revenue for the quarter came in at $3.27 billion versus the consensus estimate of $3.2 billion.
GUIDANCE:
We assume continued, if uneven, global economic growth in 2022 as global COVID impacts generally move behind us. In this rapidly changing environment, we remain focused on continuing to drive strong new business gains, pricing, and margin improvement. While we expect the impact of substantial raw material and cost inflation to increase further in the second quarter and remain high for the balance of the year, we are also very pleased with our progress on structural pricing, and now expect it to be in the 6% to 7% range for the balance of the year. In addition, to offset the rapid rise in energy costs following the start of the war in Eastern Europe thus impacting the full second quarter, we have begun to roll out a global temporary energy surcharge of up to 12%, which is expected to develop progressively through the year. Despite the substantial cost headwinds, we expect our combined pricing actions (which include our ongoing structural pricing and the energy surcharge), along with strong volume growth and long-term productivity improvements, to yield second quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share approaching last year’s $1.22. Further, as our current pricing actions roll out through this year, we believe they will result in accelerating earnings growth through the second half and deliver low-teens growth in adjusted diluted earnings per share for the full year 2022, understanding there is uncertainty in the timing of the realization of the surcharge which will become more clear as we exit the second quarter.
For earnings history and earnings-related data on Ecolab click here.