Ecolab misses quarterly profit forecast on softer demand for its water solutions

Water solutions company Ecolab ECL on Tuesday missed its current-quarter profit forecast, hurt by ongoing soft demand from businesses, such as basic industries and paper.

Shares of the company fell 3.5% in morning trade.

U.S. manufacturing contracted for a sixth straight month in August as factories dealt with the fallout from the Trump administration's import tariffs, weakening the demand for water services.

The company expects the fourth-quarter adjusted earnings to be between $2.02 and $2.12, the midpoint of which is lower than the analysts' estimate of $2.08 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Ecolab also narrowed its full-year 2025 adjusted profit forecast to between $7.48 to $7.58 per share, from the previous range of $7.42 to $7.62 per share.

Its third-quarter net income fell about 20.5% to $535 million, primarily due to the comparison with last year's gain on the sale of its global surgical solutions business.

Sales from Ecolab's largest segment, the global water unit—which includes light and heavy industries, food and beverage, and paper—increased by 2.9% to $1.95 billion.

Meanwhile, sales in its global institutional and specialty segment, which makes cleaning and sanitizing products for quick-service restaurants and food retailers, rose 1.2% to $1.55 billion from a year earlier.

The company in August said it would buy Ovivo's electronics unit for about $1.8 billion in cash to expand its ultra-pure water technology for semiconductor manufacturing, as demand for advanced microchips and AI grows.

The booming growth of data centers has significantly boosted water consumption, as AI and high-performance computing GPUs require more cooling than conventional servers.

The Saint Paul, Minnesota-based company posted a profit of $2.07 per share on an adjusted basis for the three months ended September 30, in line with estimates.