Colgate-Palmolive Earnings Preview: Q1 EPS, Sales Expected to Be Higher

Colgate-Palmolive

, shares of which are trading near a multiyear high, is scheduled to report first-quarter 2012 results tomorrow April 26, with a conference call and webcast at 11 AM Eastern. Investors will be looking for Colgate to get back on track after a profit decline in the fourth quarter that broke a three-quarter growth streak. Last week's earnings beat by Kimberley-Clark

, which likewise has seen strength in emerging markets, and the resulting boost in its share price could bode well for Colgate.

Analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will report per-share earnings of $1.24 for the quarter and say that revenue totaled $4.2 billion. That would be up from $1.16 per share and $4.0 billion in sales in the same period of last year. The EPS estimate has inched up a penny in the past 60 days. And note that analysts' consensus EPS estimates have come within a penny or two of actual results in the past eight quarters. Back in its fourth-quarter report, the company said earnings climbed 5% year-over-year to $1.30 a share. Revenue was 5% higher to $4.2 billion, which fell just short of expectations. Colgate said strong sales in emerging markets were partially offset by currency issues, a problem shared by other personal-care-product makers like Kimberly-Clark and Johnson & Johnson

. Looking ahead to the current quarter, analysts so far expect to see sequential and year-over-year growth of both per-share earnings and revenues. And the full-year forecast has EPS up almost 7% from the previous year and revenue more than 3% higher.

Colgate-Palmolive manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. Its many brands include Colgate, Palmolive, Irish Spring, Speed Stick, Ajax, Tom's of Maine and Hill's Science Diet. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in New York City. It is a member of the S&P 500 and has a market cap of $47.0 billion. Competitors include Clorox

and Procter & Gamble

. Both of these peers topped earnings estimates in their most recent quarters. Clorox is expected to post modest EPS and revenue growth when it next reports on May 2, but analysts expect an earnings decline and sales essentially flat year-over-year from Procter & Gamble when it shares its results Thursday.

During the three months that ended in March, Colgate-Palmolive raised prices in North America for the first time in more than two years. Its board increased its quarterly dividend by 7%, or four cents per share. And an executive from Google

joined Colgate's board.

Colgate's long-term earnings per share growth forecast is 8.9%. Its return on equity is 96.3% and the operating margin is higher than the industry average. Its 19.8 trailing P/E ratio is lower than the industry average. The dividend yield is 2.5%. But only five of 24 analysts who follow the stock recommend buying shares. The share price has outpaced their mean price target. The stock hit a multiyear high of $99.00 last Friday, and the share price is now about 8% higher than at the beginning of the year, as well as up more than 26% from a year ago. The price has been above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages since late January. Over the past six months, the stock has outperformed Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Unilever

.