Ecolab Earnings: Fifth Consecutive Quarter of Double-Digit Revenue Growth

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) reported higher profit for the third quarter as revenue showed growth. Ecolab develops and markets cleaning and sanitizing products and programs, pest elimination, maintenance, and repair services for the hospitality, foodservice, healthcare and industrial markets.

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Ecolab Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for the chemical-specialty rose to $238 million (80 cents per share) vs. $154.3 million (65 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 54.2% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 74.1% to $3.02 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Ecolab Inc. reported adjusted net income of 87 cents per share. By that measure, the company fell in line with the mean estimate of 87 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $2.72 billion.

Quoting Management: Commenting on the quarter, Douglas M. Baker, Jr., Ecolab’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, “We continued to show strong results in the third quarter despite the challenging global economies. Growth remained solid across our businesses and regions, reflecting our focused efforts on new account gains, new products and services to yield improved results and lower costs for customers, and achieving the planned integration and synergy objectives from our combined businesses.”We expect to deliver a strong year in 2012, and in doing so, help set up growth for the future. The integration of Ecolab and Nalco is going very well, and based on our experience with customers, we are more confident than ever in the value we will create through our merger. Our other recent acquisitions are also performing well and are ahead of plans. And our recently announced agreement to acquire Champion Technologies will further strengthen our strategic position, earnings and long-term outlook.”We remain focused on our opportunities and the effective execution of our business approach. Our value proposition for customers remains compelling – delivering improved results at lower total costs – and we are using this winning combination to secure new business. We are in a very favorable situation – we are positioned to capitalize on excellent long-term growth opportunities, we have great technology, we have great sales-and-service teams and we have a great business model. We are committed to driving our business and delivering excellent results for our customers and shareholders in 2012 and beyond.”

Key Stats:

The company has enjoyed double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth for the past five quarters. Over that span, the company has averaged growth of 52.3%, with the biggest boost coming in the first quarter when revenue rose 85.1% from the year earlier quarter.

The company has met estiamtes for the last two quarters. It reported net income of 72 cents in the second quarter.

The company has now seen net income rise for two consecutive quarters. In the second quarter, net income rose 46.5% from the year earlier.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly optimistic about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the fourth quarter has moved up from 88 cents a share to 90 cents over the last ninety days. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $3 a share to $2.99 over the last ninety days.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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