Ecolab (ECL) Competitors

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$261.62 +15.69 (+6.38%)
As of 02:11 PM Eastern
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ECL vs. SHW, IFF, RPM, ALB, CE, BCPC, NEU, FUL, SXT, and ASH

Should you be buying Ecolab stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Ecolab include Sherwin-Williams (SHW), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), RPM International (RPM), Albemarle (ALB), Celanese (CE), Balchem (BCPC), NewMarket (NEU), H.B. Fuller (FUL), Sensient Technologies (SXT), and Ashland (ASH). These companies are all part of the "specialty chemicals" industry.

Ecolab vs.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) and Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Ecolab pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Sherwin-Williams pays an annual dividend of $2.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ecolab pays out 36.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sherwin-Williams pays out 27.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ecolab has raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years and Sherwin-Williams has raised its dividend for 35 consecutive years.

Sherwin-Williams has higher revenue and earnings than Ecolab. Sherwin-Williams is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ecolab, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Ecolab$15.32B4.90$1.37B$7.1337.18
Sherwin-Williams$23.10B3.97$2.68B$10.5534.55

Ecolab currently has a consensus target price of $278.60, indicating a potential upside of 5.09%. Sherwin-Williams has a consensus target price of $400.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.74%. Given Sherwin-Williams' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sherwin-Williams is more favorable than Ecolab.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Ecolab
0 Sell rating(s)
5 Hold rating(s)
11 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.69
Sherwin-Williams
1 Sell rating(s)
5 Hold rating(s)
12 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.75

74.9% of Ecolab shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sherwin-Williams shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Ecolab shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Sherwin-Williams shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Ecolab has a net margin of 13.05% compared to Sherwin-Williams' net margin of 11.61%. Sherwin-Williams' return on equity of 74.50% beat Ecolab's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Ecolab13.05% 22.12% 8.47%
Sherwin-Williams 11.61%74.50%12.16%

Ecolab has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sherwin-Williams has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

In the previous week, Sherwin-Williams had 3 more articles in the media than Ecolab. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for Sherwin-Williams and 30 mentions for Ecolab. Ecolab's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Sherwin-Williams' score of 1.01 indicating that Ecolab is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Ecolab
20 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
7 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Sherwin-Williams
24 Very Positive mention(s)
2 Positive mention(s)
1 Neutral mention(s)
3 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Sherwin-Williams received 145 more outperform votes than Ecolab when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.86% of users gave Ecolab an outperform vote while only 64.56% of users gave Sherwin-Williams an outperform vote.

CompanyUnderperformOutperform
EcolabOutperform Votes
755
64.86%
Underperform Votes
409
35.14%
Sherwin-WilliamsOutperform Votes
900
64.56%
Underperform Votes
494
35.44%

Summary

Sherwin-Williams beats Ecolab on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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ECL vs. The Competition

MetricEcolabSoap, detergents, & cleaning preparations; perfumes, & cosmetics IndustryMaterials SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$74.95B$108.63B$3.13B$20.20B
Dividend Yield1.04%1.83%5.19%3.67%
P/E Ratio37.1223.04110.3045.10
Price / Sales4.903.21790,057.7116.21
Price / Cash29.5019.9924.4520.33
Price / Book9.365.673.895.78
Net Income$1.37B$4.04B$149.92M$1.00B
7 Day Performance6.51%0.58%1.70%0.13%
1 Month Performance15.28%4.96%4.60%4.27%
1 Year Performance30.77%3.72%31.81%17.55%

Ecolab Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
ECL
Ecolab
4.8835 of 5 stars
$261.63
+6.4%
$278.60
+6.5%
+21.1%$74.13B$15.32B36.7248,000Earnings Report
News Coverage
Positive News
Gap Up
SHW
Sherwin-Williams
4.9216 of 5 stars
$357.55
-0.8%
$400.00
+11.9%
+15.3%$90.06B$23.10B33.8964,088Positive News
IFF
International Flavors & Fragrances
4.6271 of 5 stars
$83.99
-0.4%
$107.77
+28.3%
+5.3%$21.46B$11.48B-9.2321,500Upcoming Earnings
Analyst Revision
News Coverage
RPM
RPM International
4.0245 of 5 stars
$122.77
+1.0%
$132.00
+7.5%
+13.2%$15.80B$7.34B24.2817,207Positive News
ALB
Albemarle
4.5016 of 5 stars
$75.47
-2.5%
$113.95
+51.0%
-35.2%$8.86B$9.62B-4.509,000Gap Down
CE
Celanese
4.7453 of 5 stars
$67.65
-0.6%
$102.06
+50.9%
-55.0%$7.37B$10.94B6.7912,410
BCPC
Balchem
4.7531 of 5 stars
$160.02
-0.2%
$190.00
+18.7%
+9.8%$5.21B$922.44M43.071,302
NEU
NewMarket
2.4336 of 5 stars
$530.12
+2.7%
N/A-10.9%$5.08B$2.79B10.982,000Analyst Downgrade
News Coverage
FUL
H.B. Fuller
3.2186 of 5 stars
$61.43
+1.6%
$75.60
+23.1%
-20.9%$3.36B$3.57B26.597,500
SXT
Sensient Technologies
3.7383 of 5 stars
$76.27
+0.5%
$85.00
+11.5%
+26.2%$3.23B$1.46B36.493,956Positive News
ASH
Ashland
4.4809 of 5 stars
$63.99
+0.8%
$95.57
+49.4%
-29.5%$3.02B$2.11B-96.973,200

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This page (NYSE:ECL) was last updated on 2/11/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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