COVID-19 clouds Ecolab’s outlook

Article Excerpt

ECOLAB INC. $208 is a hold. The company (New York symbol ECL; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 285.4 million; Market cap: $59.4 billion; Dividend yield: 0.9%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.ecolab.com) develops and markets chemicals and services for cleaning, pest elimination, sanitizing, and maintenance. It sells to customers in the foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, government, education, and retail segments. On June 3, 2020, Ecolab split off its energy division, which makes chemicals for oil and natural gas exploration firms, oil refineries and pipeline operators; it then merged that business with Apergy Corp. to form a new company called ChampionX Corp. (New York symbol CHX). Ecolab investors who participated in the split-off received 24.6667 shares of the merged company for each share of Ecolab share they tendered. The remaining company continues to see strong institutional sales of cleaning/sanitizing products. Still, demand from its restaurant, lodging and entertainment customers will likely remain weak until those businesses fully re-open. Ecolab is a hold. hold. …