ECL · Intrinsic value
Is Ecolab Inc. (ECL) overvalued or undervalued?
Ecolab Inc. (ECL) trades at the delayed market price of $285.34 a share. That price already implies revenue growth of more than 25%/yr. TickerWorth's fair value is $119.66 a share (138% above fair value), as of Oct 19, 2026. It is a model estimate, and every input behind it is sourced below.
Model by Miraaj Patel · generated from SEC filings and market data · Updated Oct 19, 2026 · How these pages are made
Is ECL overvalued?
- Fair value
- $119.66
- Market price
- $285.34
- Downside to fair value
- 58.1%
- Verdict
- 138% above fair value
Reverse DCF: Today's price implies revenue growth of more than 25%/yr. Above about 25% a year the reverse-DCF stops being informative. It solves for revenue growth alone — holding margins, capital intensity and the forecast horizon fixed — so a price well above our cash-flow model's value has nowhere to go but growth, and the solver returns a rate the model can't reconcile. Read it as "the price implies growth we can't justify", not as a forecast.
What is ECL's TickerWorth Score?
Scores lower than almost every company we compare it with
Compared with Basic Materials companies in US
Its strongest point: a profitable, high-quality business. Its weakest: looks expensive on the numbers.
- Value · 19 of 100
Cheaper than 19% of Basic Materials companies in US
- Price vs worth · 4 of 100
- Quality · 64 of 100
More profitable than 64% of Basic Materials companies in US
- Financial health · 36 of 100
Financially stronger than 36% of Basic Materials companies in US
- Growth · 34 of 100
Growing faster than 34% of Basic Materials companies in US
- Momentum · 69 of 100
Outperformed 69% of Basic Materials companies in US over the past year
Confidence: Medium confidence · Scored
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ECL DCF valuation: what the price assumes
TickerWorth's fair value for Ecolab Inc. (ECL) is $119.66 a share, against the delayed market price of $285.34 (138% above fair value). It is a model estimate, and every input behind it is sourced below. This is an educational model, not a price target or a recommendation.
Read the full reasoning
One of the lenses behind that blended figure is a discounted-cash-flow model, which on its own values ECL at about $83.51 per share. The rest of this page walks through that DCF — its assumptions, reverse-DCF and discount-rate sensitivity — because it is the auditable anchor of the blend.
The valuation discounts Ecolab Inc.'s projected free cash flows at a weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) of 8.7%, with a long-run terminal growth rate of 2.5%. About 74% of the enterprise value comes from the terminal value — the portion beyond the explicit forecast window — which is typical for a stable, cash-generative business and a reminder that small changes in the discount rate or terminal growth assumption swing the intrinsic value meaningfully.
Running the DCF in reverse — solving for the growth the current price already assumes — ECL would need sustained revenue growth of more than 25%/yr to justify today's price, against about 5.4% a year compounded in our base case. We don't quote a precise figure here, because past about 25% a year the reverse-DCF stops being informative: it solves for revenue growth alone, holding margins, capital intensity and the forecast horizon fixed, so a price well above our fair value has nowhere to go but growth. The honest reading is that the price implies growth this model can't reconcile — not that we forecast it.
Sensitivity matters more than any single number. Across a reasonable band of discount-rate assumptions, ECL's modeled DCF value ranges from about $55.16 to $149.75 per share. If that range still sits below today's price, the market is optimistic relative to the model across the whole band; if it brackets the price, the stock is roughly fairly valued on our assumptions. Use the interactive slider to see exactly where your own cost-of-capital view lands.
How to read this page: the DCF fair value is what Ecolab Inc. would be worth if its cash flows grow as modeled and are discounted at the stated WACC. The assumptions table shows every input and its source; the reverse-DCF shows what the market believes; the sensitivity band shows how fragile the answer is. None of this is investment advice — it is a transparent, auditable framework for forming your own view of ECL's intrinsic value. Figures update as new filings and prices come in.
Every input behind ECL's DCF
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Base-year revenueECOLAB INC. FY2025 10-K (accession 0001104659-26-018357): us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax, FY2025 full year. | $16,081,200,000 |
| Base EBIT marginECOLAB INC. FY2025 10-K (accession 0001104659-26-018357): us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss 2,737,600,000 / revenue 16,081,200,000 = 17.02%, FY2025. | 17.0% |
| Forecast revenue growthESTIMATEAssumption — TickerWorth's 5-year explicit forecast | 7% → 6% → 5% → 5% → 4% |
| Risk-free rateLive feed — US 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) | 5.1% |
| BetaLive feed — yfinance, 5-year monthly beta vs the S&P 500 (clamped to 0.4–2.5) | 0.88 |
| Terminal growthESTIMATEAssumption — TickerWorth house default 2.5%, held below WACC | 2.5% |
| Diluted sharesECOLAB INC. FY2025 10-K (accession 0001104659-26-018357): WeightedAverageNumberOfDilutedSharesOutstanding = 285,200,000 shares, FY2025. | 285M |
| Market priceDelayed quote · as of 2026-10-19 17:01 UTC | $285.34 |
Change ECL's assumptions
The discount-rate dial and the editable model
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What does Ecolab Inc. do?
What does it do?
Ecolab Inc. provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. It operates in the Specialty Chemicals industry (Basic Materials sector), headquartered in United States. The company employs roughly 48,000 people.
How does it make money?
The business turns $16.8B in annual revenue into profit. Out of every $100 of sales, about $19 is left as operating profit (operating margin of 18.5%), after a 44% gross margin on the products/services it sells. After all costs, taxes and interest, 12.6% of revenue becomes bottom-line net profit.
Is it financially healthy?
Financially it looks mixed: carries moderate debt (1.4× equity), comfortably covers its short-term bills (1.8× current ratio), and is currently profitable.
ECL insider trading
We have no recent SEC Form 4 insider filings on file for Ecolab Inc.. Form 4 covers US-listed companies only.
Common questions
What is ECL's intrinsic value?
TickerWorth's blended fair value for Ecolab Inc. (ECL) is $119.66 per share, versus a market price of $285.34 (138% above fair value).
Is ECL overvalued or undervalued?
On our blended fair value ECL looks overvalued: 138% above fair value at $285.34. This is an educational estimate, not advice.
What discount rate is used for ECL?
A WACC of 8.7% and a terminal growth rate of 2.5%.
Is Ecolab stock undervalued?
TickerWorth's fair value for Ecolab Inc. (ECL) is $119.66 against a market price of $285.34. Our read: 138% above fair value. This is a model estimate, not investment advice.
Ecolab (ECL) DCF valuation and fair value
Our fair value for Ecolab Inc. (ECL) is $119.66, built on a 8.7% discount rate (WACC) and 2.5% terminal growth. It blends our discounted-cash-flow model with other valuation lenses. Every assumption is listed on this page with its source.
What growth is priced into Ecolab stock?
Today's price implies revenue growth of more than 25%/yr. Above about 25% a year the reverse-DCF stops being informative. It solves for revenue growth alone — holding margins, capital intensity and the forecast horizon fixed — so a price well above our cash-flow model's value has nowhere to go but growth, and the solver returns a rate the model can't reconcile. Read it as "the price implies growth we can't justify", not as a forecast. This is a reverse DCF: it holds our cash-flow model's other inputs and solves for the revenue growth that makes the model equal today's price of $285.34. A model estimate, not investment advice.
Ecolab (ECL) insider trading
We have no recent SEC Form 4 insider filings on file for Ecolab Inc. (ECL). Form 4 covers US-listed companies only.
How does ECL compare with its peers?
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Not investment advice. TickerWorth Score is a model output.
Educational tool. Every output reflects the assumptions shown — not a prediction and not investment advice. TickerWorth is not a licensed investment adviser, and these figures are estimates from public filings and market data that can be wrong.