Colgate-Palmolive stock is one of those, slow, steady growers that are appealing right now, as the general market can't seem to find its footing. In January, Colgate stock hit a fresh all-time high. It's bounced around a bit since then but on Tuesday it traded within a few percentage points of that high. Also Tuesday, the stock Relative Strength (RS) Rating for home goods behemoth Colgate stock jumped into the 80-plus percentile with an improvement to 83, a rise from 80 the day before.
Colgate-Palmolive brands extend from Palmolive dish soap to Colgate toothpaste, Softsoap hand soap, Speed Stick deodorant and a host of other products.
Colgate Stock Fresh High In Sight; More Work Needed
Colgate will need to improve its fundamentals though if it's to rise to a fresh high. Still, its stock hit the admirable 80 mark earlier and is showing strength moving further up that ladder. Market research shows that the best stocks typically have an 80 or better RS Rating as they launch their biggest runs.
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Among its other key ratings, Colgate-Palmolive has a strong B SMR Rating (Sales+profit Margins+Return on equity) on an A-to-E scale with A tops. It has a 58 EPS Rating, an OK but not great 69 Composite Rating and Colgate stock has a D- Accumulation/Distribution Rating.
Colgate stock is working on a consolidation with an 85.71 entry. See if it can clear the breakout price in volume at least 40% higher than normal. On Tuesday it slid less fractionally to 79 despite a heavy market sell-off. It rose to an 85.61 intraday all-time high on Jan. 6.
In terms of fundamentals, the New York City-based company reported a 10% drop in EPS on a 5% hike in revenue to $4.48 billion. Its EPS also dropped 8% year over year the prior quarter to 74 cents. Sales have grown every quarter this past year but in mid-single-digits.
Peers In Cosmetics/Personal Care Group
Colgate stock holds the No. 4 rank among its peers in the Cosmetics/Personal Care industry group. Prophase Labs and Inter Parfums are also among the group's highest-rated stocks.
When looking for the best stocks to buy and watch, one factor to watch closely is relative price strength.
IBD's unique RS Rating identifies technical performance by showing how a stock's price action over the last 52 weeks compares to that of the other stocks in our database.
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