William Blair analyst Tim Mulrooney has maintained their bullish stance on ECL stock, giving a Buy rating yesterday.
Tim Mulrooney has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors, including Ecolab’s solid first-quarter performance and the company’s decision to maintain its 2025 guidance. This is particularly noteworthy as many other firms have adjusted their outlooks due to macroeconomic challenges and trade policy uncertainties. Ecolab’s ability to uphold its guidance reflects management’s confidence in the company’s strategic initiatives, such as surcharge pricing and localized production, which help mitigate external pressures.
Furthermore, the company’s first-quarter results showed a 12% increase in adjusted EPS, aligning with consensus estimates, and a slight benefit from lower-than-expected foreign exchange headwinds. Despite a 2% year-over-year revenue decline, organic growth was positive, driven by strong performance in life sciences. The expansion of the adjusted gross margin by 110 basis points to 44.4% also underscores Ecolab’s operational efficiency. These factors collectively support the expectation of reaching a new high in operating margin by 2025, reinforcing the Buy rating.
In another report released yesterday, Morgan Stanley also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $280.00 price target.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 119 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of ECL in relation to earlier this year.