undamentalytics Newsletter
Sign in

Ecolab key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Ecolab had return on equity of 22.4%, an operating margin of 17.0%, debt equal to 84.3% of equity and a current ratio of 1.08. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin49.5%50.5%48.9%46.1%46.0%46.2%46.7%42.7%41.7%43.7%43.9%41.4%40.2%37.8%40.2%43.5%44.5%43.9%
Operating margin11.5%13.2%11.1%10.9%11.8%13.7%11.5%14.2%14.1%14.1%14.7%11.8%12.6%11.0%13.0%17.8%17.0%16.7%
Net margin7.1%8.7%6.8%5.9%7.3%8.4%7.4%9.3%10.9%11.7%12.4%−10.2%8.9%7.7%9.0%13.4%12.9%12.0%
Free-cash-flow margin7.5%11.3%5.1%5.3%7.1%7.5%9.1%9.0%8.8%12.3%13.4%11.6%11.1%7.6%10.7%11.6%11.8%10.3%
Return on equity20.9%25.7%11.9%12.0%14.4%16.4%14.1%17.8%20.8%18.3%18.7%−16.2%16.9%15.1%18.0%25.1%22.4%20.6%
Return on assets8.3%10.7%4.0%3.9%5.2%6.2%5.3%6.6%7.9%7.1%7.6%−6.2%5.7%5.1%6.3%9.6%8.8%7.5%
Asset turnover1.181.230.590.660.710.730.710.710.720.610.610.600.650.670.710.710.680.62
Current ratio1.451.411.701.601.351.110.931.421.321.271.331.751.321.301.301.261.081.11
Debt to equity48.3%41.2%134.8%107.7%94.0%89.5%93.6%96.9%96.6%88.0%73.2%108.4%121.2%118.6%101.7%86.4%84.3%126.6%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)10.1x12.3x9.2x4.5x5.7x7.3x6.2x6.6x7.1x7.3x8.6x4.6x6.9x6.2x5.7x8.2x8.9x7.4x
Effective tax rate32.5%29.0%31.8%30.7%25.0%28.0%22.8%24.4%13.8%20.2%16.7%15.2%19.1%17.5%20.6%17.1%17.8%19.5%
R&D as % of revenue1.5%1.4%1.4%1.5%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.5%1.6%1.5%1.6%1.5%1.3%1.3%1.3%1.3%—
SG&A as % of revenue36.8%37.1%35.9%33.9%32.9%32.1%32.1%28.2%27.6%28.7%28.3%28.1%26.8%25.8%26.5%26.9%26.5%25.8%
Capital spending as % of revenue4.3%4.3%5.0%4.9%4.7%5.2%5.7%5.8%6.3%6.4%5.8%4.1%5.0%5.0%5.1%6.3%6.5%7.1%
Free cash flow ÷ net income106.0%130.1%74.3%89.3%96.6%88.7%122.6%96.2%81.3%104.9%108.4%—125.6%98.5%119.3%86.1%91.7%86.2%
Dividends ÷ net income31.8%27.4%35.2%43.6%22.5%28.6%40.0%34.8%29.8%34.6%35.5%—50.1%55.2%45.0%31.4%36.3%39.3%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow45.5%71.6%248.1%82.2%56.2%72.5%94.1%98.7%85.8%70.5%53.7%51.6%47.4%104.2%38.5%90.7%80.7%105.8%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 7 checks passed · September 30, 2026
What it owns · $31.1bn
Short-term assets $7.1bnLonger-term assets $24.0bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $31.1bn
Short-term liabilities $6.4bnLonger-term liabilities $14.3bnShareholders' equity $10.4bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $7.1bn of assets due within a year against $6.4bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $7.1bn short-term assets against $14.3bn of longer-dated liabilities.
  • More cash than debt $722m of cash against $13.2bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 127% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 117% to 127% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $3.0bn of operating cash flow against $13.2bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $2.9bn against $391m of interest.

From Ecolab's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

73 /100

Strong moat

How hard Ecolab's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 12 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 9.5% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 15 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 42.5%, moving by 2.0 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 14 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 13.8%; its worst year was 11.2%.

  • Cash conversion 15 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 10.8% of revenue.

  • Discipline 17 / 20

    The diluted share count fell 2.0% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.7% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

Head to head: ECL vs PPGECL vs SHWECL vs LYB

More: Specialty Chemicals stocks compared, Materials sector, rankings of US companies

Figures from Ecolab's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Ecolab.