Risk Intelligence
67 / 100
Fundamentally Qualified
How strong and defensively sound is the company?
Around the middle of the covered universe.
ECL · NYSE
Materials · Chemicals
$276.18
+1.69%
Close on Sep 11, 2026
Updated 6/30/2026
Long-term research evidence only. No price targets, no trading signals, no recommendations.
Investment Report Card
Materials · Chemicals · Data confidence good
43 / 100
Rank #439 of 1,152 qualified companies
Top 64% · Not Currently Suggested
67 / 100
Fundamentally Qualified
How strong and defensively sound is the company?
Around the middle of the covered universe.
54 / 100
Elite Compounder
Does the business have the characteristics needed to create value over many years?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
45 / 100
Accelerating
Is the underlying business getting stronger or weaker?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
54 / 100
Positive disclosed activity
What are important owners actually doing?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
33 / 100
Expensive
Is today's price reasonable?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure — and valuation is researched separately from the Suggested Investment Score.
49 / 100
Moderate Capital Returns
How effectively does the company reward shareholders?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure — and capital returns are researched separately from the Suggested Investment Score.
ECOLAB INC. scores 54 on Long-Term Potential (D+), described by the research model as elite compounder. This describes business characteristics only — it is not a forecast of future returns.
Disclosed ownership evidence reads 54 (D+): Positive disclosed activity. 8 tracked managers disclosed a position in the latest reporting period. Ownership filings are historical disclosures, not signals.
ECOLAB INC. reads 33 out of 100 on Valuation Intelligence, recorded as Expensive. The stock currently trades above most of its own recent valuation history and above comparable companies. This describes the price being paid relative to the company's financials — it is not a forecast and not a fair value. Valuation Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
ECOLAB INC. reads 49 out of 100 on Capital Returns Intelligence (Moderate Capital Returns), reflecting a dividend that has grown about 7.2% a year. Capital Returns Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
No meaningful recorded changes in the stored history.
Risk Intelligence is a core model, Long-Term Potential, Fundamental Momentum, Valuation Intelligence and Capital Returns Intelligence are research models, and Ownership Intelligence is supplemental descriptive evidence. Valuation Intelligence and Capital Returns Intelligence each contribute 0% to the Suggested Investment Score. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Compare ECL with other companiesResearch Collections
This company does not currently satisfy any collection rule. That is a stored research result, not a judgement about the business.
Browse collectionsAbout a minute to read
Written from stored research readings only. No hype. No trading signals. Just better evidence.
ECOLAB INC. (ECL) scores 43 out of 100 and ranks #439 of 1,152 qualified companies today. That places it in the top 64% of ranked companies. The stored tier for that score is not currently suggested.
Risk Intelligence reads 67 out of 100 (C+), recorded as fundamentally qualified. Around the middle of the covered universe.
Long-Term Potential reads 54 out of 100 (D+), recorded as elite compounder. Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
Fundamental Momentum reads 45 out of 100 (D), recorded as accelerating. Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
Ownership Intelligence reads 54 out of 100 (D+), recorded as positive disclosed activity. Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
Valuation is currently the main point of caution: Valuation Intelligence reads 33 out of 100 (F), recorded as Expensive. ECOLAB INC. reads 33 out of 100 on Valuation Intelligence, recorded as Expensive. The stock currently trades above most of its own recent valuation history and above comparable companies. This describes the price being paid relative to the company's financials — it is not a forecast and not a fair value. Valuation Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
Capital Returns Intelligence reads 49 out of 100 (D), recorded as Moderate Capital Returns. ECOLAB INC. reads 49 out of 100 on Capital Returns Intelligence (Moderate Capital Returns), reflecting a dividend that has grown about 7.2% a year. Capital Returns Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
Elevated valuation: the current market price reflects a premium to this company's historical valuation and comparable companies (Valuation Intelligence 33 out of 100, Expensive). Data confidence for this company is good.
No individual layer reaches the strongest band today. Long-Term Potential and Fundamental Momentum and Ownership Intelligence remain the main area to watch. Separately from the score, valuation reads expensive at today's price.
Composite discovery model
Suggested Investment Score
43 / 100
A 0–100 composite discovery score combining Risk Intelligence, Long-Term Potential, Fundamental Momentum, and Ownership Intelligence. It helps rank qualified companies for further research and does not predict future returns.
30% contribution
30% contribution
20% contribution
20% contribution
54 / 100 · Moderately Positive · 20% of the Suggested Investment Score
Coverage: Good
50% of Ownership Intelligence · 10% of the total score
Tracked professional-manager activity is mixed.
20% of Ownership Intelligence · 4% of the total score
Broad institutional evidence from resolved filings is positive.
15% of Ownership Intelligence · 3% of the total score
No discretionary insider transactions are stored for this company, so this evidence is unavailable rather than neutral.
15% of Ownership Intelligence · 3% of the total score
No qualifying major-holder filings are stored, so this evidence is unavailable rather than neutral.
Ownership Intelligence summarizes publicly disclosed activity among professional investment managers, broader institutions, company insiders, and significant strategic owners. It adds context to investment research but is not a validated predictor of future performance. Ownership information is publicly reported with a delay; the latest applicable reporting period is 2026-06-30, publicly disclosed 9/11/2026. Congressional activity is unavailable pending legal review and contributes nothing to this reading.
No component ranks in the top quartile of the qualified universe.
Long-term potential is mid-pack
Long-Term Potential ranks below the qualified median. This remains a research model.
Fundamental Momentum is softer
Reported business trends rank below the qualified median.
Ownership evidence is not uniformly supportive
Disclosed elite investor activity evidence is weak or neutral. Ownership evidence is supplemental and never automatically positive.
Ownership evidence disagrees
Different owner groups point in different directions, so the combined reading is best read as mixed rather than uniformly favourable.
COMPOSITE DISCOVERY MODEL — RESEARCH STAGE · Data coverage Excellent. Rankings are recalculated daily using the latest available information. Individual components may update at different frequencies based on when new financial and ownership data becomes available.
Researched separately
Valuation Intelligence 33 · Expensive
Valuation Intelligence is currently researched separately and does not affect the Suggested Investment Score or daily ranking.
Researched separately
Capital Returns Intelligence 49 · Moderate Capital Returns
Capital Returns Intelligence is researched separately and contributes 0% to the Suggested Investment Score, the daily rank or any ranking event.
Score explanation
Four research areas carry fixed weights. Each area is compared against every other eligible company, then weighted. The four contributions below add to 43.2 of the stored score (43.2).
Risk Intelligence
30% of the score · contributes 17.6 points
How strong and defensively sound is the company?
Stands at the 59 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 67 · 41% of this company’s total score
How financially sturdy the company has been when conditions turned against it.
Risk Intelligence reads stored balance-sheet strength, historical downside behaviour and the company's price-risk grouping. A stronger reading describes past resilience; it does not protect against future losses.
Full methodologyLong-Term Potential
30% of the score · contributes 14.8 points
Does the business have the characteristics needed to create value over many years?
Stands at the 49 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 54 · 34% of this company’s total score
Whether the business has the durable characteristics long-term owners look for.
Long-Term Potential reads durability characteristics such as profitability consistency, cash generation and reinvestment capability over multiple reported periods.
Full methodologyFundamental Momentum
20% of the score · contributes 7.5 points
Is the underlying business getting stronger or weaker?
Stands at the 37 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 45 · 17% of this company’s total score
Whether the reported business results have been getting stronger or weaker.
Fundamental Momentum compares recent reported fundamentals with the company's own earlier periods, so improvement or deterioration is measured against its history rather than against a forecast.
Full methodologyOwnership Intelligence
20% of the score · contributes 3.3 points
What are important owners actually doing?
Stands at the 17 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 54 · 8% of this company’s total score
What large reporting owners have actually been doing with their positions.
Ownership Intelligence reads public ownership filings: how many tracked reporting owners hold the company, and whether they were adding, holding, reducing or exiting in the latest disclosed period.
Full methodologyNo research area currently stands in the stronger half of eligible companies.
Additional research — not currently included in the primary Suggested Investment Score.
Stored snapshots only
Research-score history available since September 2026.
Stored research history does not yet cover a full 30 days comparison for this company.
A change is reported as meaningful at 8 score points, 5 rank places, or any change of research classification. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.
Plain-English definitions, with the formula and the limitations of each measure.
Fifth research lens · outside the score
Valuation Intelligence
Valuation Intelligence is currently researched separately and does not affect the Suggested Investment Score or daily ranking.
Expensive
33
Expensive
Is this company expensive or inexpensive compared with its own history?
11
Expensive
How expensive is this stock compared with similar companies?
42
Elevated
How much financial output does an investor receive relative to the price paid?
52
Reasonable
Does the company's growth help justify the valuation investors are paying?
ECOLAB INC. reads 33 out of 100 on Valuation Intelligence, recorded as Expensive. The stock currently trades above most of its own recent valuation history and above comparable companies. This describes the price being paid relative to the company's financials — it is not a forecast and not a fair value.
Price data through September 11, 2026 · Financial data through the quarter ended June 30, 2026
Stored readings only. The dashed line is this company's own median for the selected measure.
Only one stored valuation reading exists so far, so there is nothing to chart yet. Valuation history builds forward from activation rather than being reconstructed.
Current P/E 36.6x · own median 35.9x
Valuation is inherently uncertain. A stock that appears inexpensive can continue falling, and a stock that appears expensive can continue rising. Valuation Intelligence provides context about the price investors are paying — it does not predict short-term market movements, and it never produces a fair value, a price target or a buy or sell range. Model VALUATION_INTELLIGENCE_V1.
Sixth research lens · outside the score
Capital Returns Intelligence
Capital Returns Intelligence is researched separately and contributes 0% to the Suggested Investment Score, the daily rank or any ranking event.
Moderate Capital Returns
84
Exceptional Capital Returns
Dividend reliability
42
Moderate Capital Returns
Do buybacks actually reduce shares?
The company spends on share repurchases, but much of that activity offsets share issuance rather than materially reducing the share count.
48
Moderate Capital Returns
Is your ownership share protected?
14
Limited Capital Returns
Can the cash flow support it?
46
Moderate Capital Returns
Cash returned versus company value
ECOLAB INC. reads 49 out of 100 on Capital Returns Intelligence (Moderate Capital Returns), reflecting a dividend that has grown about 7.2% a year.
This company spent cash repurchasing stock, but the share count did not fall meaningfully because it also issued shares. Repurchase spending alone did not increase existing shareholders' ownership.
Distributions coincided with rising debt over this period, so part of the cash returned was not funded by the cash the business generated.
How returned cash was used
Dividends $797.70M · net repurchases $1.25B · total returned $2.05B · 109% of free cash flow
Price data through September 11, 2026 · Financial data through the quarter ended June 30, 2026
Stored readings only. History builds forward from activation rather than being reconstructed.
Only one stored reading exists for this measure so far, so there is nothing to chart yet.
A very high dividend yield may reflect a falling share price or an unsustainable payout. Capital Returns Intelligence emphasizes consistency and sustainability rather than simply rewarding the highest yield.
Announced or gross buyback spending does not always mean shareholders are gaining ownership. Companies can simultaneously issue shares through employee compensation or acquisitions. Suggested Investments therefore considers actual share-count changes alongside repurchase spending.
Capital Returns Intelligence describes how a company returns capital to shareholders. It is not a measure of stock-price performance, it does not predict future returns, and a strong reading is never a recommendation to buy. Dividends and repurchases can be reduced or stopped at any time. Model CAPITAL_RETURNS_INTELLIGENCE_V1, contributing 0% to the Suggested Investment Score.
Stored daily snapshots only
| Today | #439 | Score 43 |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days ago | Not ranked | No stored score |
| 90 days ago | Not ranked | No stored score |
| First suggested | Not yet suggested | |
| Highest rank | #439 | |
In the company’s own words
Ecolab was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1924. Our fiscal year is the calendar year ending December 31. International subsidiaries are included in the consolidated financial statements on the basis of their U.S. GAAP (accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America) November 30 fiscal year ends to facilitate the timely inclusion of such entities in our consolidated financial reporting.
A trusted partner for millions of customers, we are a global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services that protect people and the resources vital to life. For more than a century, we have advanced innovation by integrating science-based solutions, data-driven insights, AI-technology and world-class service. This unique combination enables us to partner with customers to define what best-in-class looks like and scale it across their operations, helping them achieve peak performance. Today, we have $16 billion in annual sales, 48,000 associates and customers in more than 170 countries and 40 industries. We help protect one-third of the world’s food production and a quarter of the power generated while delivering innovative solutions across food, healthcare, data centers, microelectronics, life sciences and hospitality. Our comprehensive approach protects what’s vital, aiming by 2030 to help protect 2 billion people from infections and enough drinking water for 1 billion people while enhancing business performance.
We pursue a "One Ecolab" enterprise selling strategy, built on the legacy of 'circle the customer – circle the globe', where we provide an array of innovative programs, products and services designed to meet the operational and sustainability needs of our customers throughout the world. Through this strategy and the breadth of our product and service mix, one customer may utilize the offerings of several of our operating segments. Important in our value proposition for customers is our ability to produce improved results while reducing their water and energy use. With that in mind, we focus on continually innovating to optimize both our own operations and the solutions we provide to customers, aligning with our corporate strategy to address some of the world’s most pressing and complex sustainability challenges, such as water scarcity and climate change. The work we do matters, and the way we do it matters to our employees, customers, investors and the communities in which we and our customers operate.
Sustainability is core to our business strategy. We deliver sustainable solutions that help companies around the world achieve their business goals while reducing environmental impacts. We partner with customers around the world to reduce water and energy use as well as greenhouse gas emissions through our high-efficiency solutions. By partnering with our customers to help them do more with less through the use of our innovative and differentiated solutions, we aim to help our customers conserve more than 300 billion gallons of water annually by 2030. In 2024, we helped our customers conserve more than 226 billion gallons of water and avoid more than 4.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Quoted from the business section of this company’s 10-K filed February 23, 2026. Read the filing
Four distinct intelligence areas
67
Fundamentally Qualified
+2.5 vs Jun 30, 2026
Business Quality qualification score from the locked IA Defensive Research Core. Price Risk stays a separate category and is never blended in.
As of Sep 11, 2026
54
Ordinary Compounder
-17.4 vs Jun 30, 2026
Durable business economics and reinvestment characteristics. Independent external validation is pending.
As of Sep 11, 2026
45
Middle
-20.4 vs Jun 30, 2026
Direction and breadth of change in underlying business fundamentals. Not a price-momentum signal.
As of Sep 11, 2026
44
Lower range
0 vs Jun 30, 2026
8 tracked managers disclosed a position for this period.
As of Sep 11, 2026
Company intelligence
Each area is measured and reported separately. No combined score exists.
ECL intelligence history from 2023-09-30 to 2026-09-11. Risk Intelligence 66.7 on 2026-09-11, up 2.5 from 64.2 on 2026-06-30. Long-Term Potential 54 on 2026-09-11, down 17.4 from 71.4 on 2026-06-30. Fundamental Momentum 45 on 2026-09-11, down 20.4 from 65.4 on 2026-06-30. Elite Investor Activity 43.8 on 2026-09-11, unchanged 0 from 43.8 on 2026-06-30. Each area is reported separately and is never combined into a single score.
Risk Intelligence 66.7 as of Sep 11, 2026 (+2.5 vs prior period) · Production core
Long-Term Potential 54 as of Sep 11, 2026 (-17.4 vs prior period) · Research model
Fundamental Momentum 45 as of Sep 11, 2026 (-20.4 vs prior period) · Research model
Elite Investor Activity 43.8 as of Sep 11, 2026 (0 vs prior period) · Supplemental
Share price
Closing prices adjusted for splits and dividends, through Sep 11, 2026. Past prices do not indicate future results.
Last stored close $276.18 · +1.5% over the selected range · 52 sessions shown
Balanced evidence
Risk and uncertainty
Public filings · descriptive only
Reporting holders
1
New holders
1
Increasing
0
Reducing
0
Exiting
0
Coverage
Excellent
Positive disclosed activity · Report period 2016-12-31 · Public 12/22/2023
| Manager | Change | Portfolio weight | Rank | Disclosed |
|---|
Insufficient high-confidence manager coverage.
Objective stored changes
Price Risk category changed
Price Risk moved from Not Available to Lower risk.
IA Compounder softened
IA Compounder research score moved from 71.4 to 36.8.
Fundamental Momentum softened
Fundamental Momentum research score moved from 65.4 to 43.3.
IA Defensive weakened
Business Quality qualification score moved from 68.1 to 64.2.
IA Compounder strengthened
IA Compounder research score moved from 37.5 to 71.4.
Fundamental Momentum improved
Fundamental Momentum research score moved from 31.3 to 65.4.
Elite Investor Consensus weakened
Disclosed agreement among tracked managers moved from 75 to 44 for the reporting period ending 2026-06-30.
Elite Investor Consensus strengthened
Disclosed agreement among tracked managers moved from 56 to 75 for the reporting period ending 2026-03-31.
Elite Investor Consensus weakened
Disclosed agreement among tracked managers moved from 70 to 58 for the reporting period ending 2025-06-30.
Elite Investor Consensus strengthened
Disclosed agreement among tracked managers moved from 50 to 70 for the reporting period ending 2025-03-31.
No high-confidence public ownership events are available.
General research only. Not personalized advice. Public filings may be delayed, amended, incomplete, or reflect positions that have changed since the reporting date.