Ecolab Q3 2026: AI data centers are now driving the growth story
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 27, 2026.
The AI data center build-out is now an Ecolab story: Global High-Tech sales grew 63% organically, with CoolIT on track to more than double pre-acquisition sales. The cost is leverage, and management says EPS growth accelerates in 2027 as those deal charges lap.
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Ecolab posted adjusted diluted EPS of $2.18 for the third quarter of 2026, meeting expectations, with reported sales in line with estimates. The segment detail underneath is where the quarter turns.
Global High-Tech grew 63% organically, and CEO Christophe Beck credited the Ovivo Electronics and CoolIT acquisitions, with CoolIT on track to more than double its pre-acquisition sales in its first year under Ecolab's ownership. Life Sciences grew organically on bioprocessing share gains. Ecolab has repositioned itself toward AI infrastructure and next-generation semiconductor manufacturing.
That repositioning carries a real near-term cost, with CoolIT-related amortization and financing charges creating roughly a 10 percentage point headwind to adjusted EPS growth. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA climbed, and acquisition, integration and One Ecolab charges were excluded from the adjusted EPS figure.
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Management guided full-year 2026 adjusted EPS to a range of $8.10 to $8.20, with a CoolIT headwind still embedded in that number. The more consequential guidance is for 2027: Beck said Ecolab enters the year expecting organic sales growth at the upper end of its target range, a stronger adjusted operating income margin, and adjusted EPS growth that meets or exceeds the company's long-term target as the acquisition headwinds begin to lap.
The Q4 2026 outlook calls for adjusted EPS of $2.13 to $2.23, with reported and organic sales both rising. The CoolIT headwind widens in Q4 before the calendar turns, so the 2027 acceleration thesis depends on whether demand for liquid cooling and water treatment in AI data centers holds at the pace the third quarter suggested.
Mentioned: ECL