Summary
Management framed the quarter as broad-based, volume-led growth despite rising inflation and transportation costs, with momentum supporting a stronger 2026 outlook.
- $150M$150 million of expected 2026 inflation is $20 million above July’s estimate, with crude oil assumed at roughly $100 a barrel.
- 2027 margin expansion remains the goal, but management declined to set a target before January.
- Touchland is expected to be roughly flat for 2026, with growth expected in 2027 as distribution expands.
Guidance
- 5%2026 organic sales growth approximately 5%
- 100 bps2026 adjusted gross margin expansion approximately 100 basis points
- 11%2026 marketing investment approximately 11% of sales
- 7%2026 adjusted EPS growth approximately 7%
- $1.175B2026 cash from operations approximately $1.175 billion
- $125M2026 capital expenditures approximately $125 million
- 4%Q4 organic sales growth approximately 4%
- 17%Q4 adjusted EPS growth 17% to 19% versus last year
What analysts pressed on
- 012027 gross margin: management cited record productivity, mix and fixed-cost leverage, but declined to quantify expansion.
- 02Pricing and promotions: productivity comes first; promotions may ease if inflation persists, with pricing considered if costs become structural.
- 03Commodity hedging: hedging has resumed after a pause and is slightly higher than the same time last year.
- 04Q4 growth outlook: management called 4% potentially conservative but cited strong October trends and external uncertainty.
- 05Touchland growth and distribution: management expects flatish 2026 sales, Q4 growth and 2027 growth from broader retail and international launches.
- 06Oral care durability: management cited low Therabreath household penetration, strong repeat rates and expected growth-initiative tailwinds through 2029.
Notable disclosures
- 2.5%2027 category growth is expected around 2.5%, versus roughly 2% assumed at the start of 2026.
- 30%Therabreath toothpaste repeat rate is nearing 30%, while mouthwash household penetration is 14% versus 65% for the category.
- Touchland Q3 sales were slightly negative, but management expects Q4 growth and full-year sales roughly flat.
- Management said international M&A criteria allow more latitude for factories and acquired back offices than U.S. deals.
Risks raised
- 2026 inflation is expected at approximately $150 million, driven by commodities and transportation costs.
- Transportation spot rates are up 40%, with driver shortages cited; management expects rates to balance over time.
- Consumer budgets remain pressured, while promotional levels in laundry and litter remain above historical levels.
- Management did not quantify 2027 gross margin expansion and said inflation next year would be quite large.
Tone: Confident 0.76
Management highlighted broad-based growth, raised its 2026 outlook and cited strong 2027 drivers, while acknowledging elevated inflation and withholding margin targets.
Who spoke
Company
- Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
- Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Analysts
- Anna LizzulAnalyst, Bank of America
- Peter GromAnalyst, UBS
- Bonnie HerzogAnalyst, Goldman Sachs
- Rupesh ParikhAnalyst, Oppenheimer
- Chris CareyAnalyst, Wells Fargo
- Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Janes
- Andrea TeixeiraAnalyst, JPMorgan
- Olivia TongAnalyst, Raymond James
- Lauren LiebermanAnalyst, Barclays
- Steve PowersAnalyst, Deutsche Bank
- Filippo FalorniAnalyst, Citi
- Edward LewisAnalyst, Rothschild & Co.
Full transcript
Analyst questions are marked with a bar. Timestamps are into the recording.
Prepared remarks
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Church and Dwight's third-quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Before we begin, I have been asked to remind you that on this call, the company's management may make forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, the company's financial objectives and forecasts. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that are described in detail in the company's SEC filings. I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Mr. Rick Durker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Church and Dwight. Please go ahead, sir.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining the call. We delivered strong third-quarter results, and I want to start off by thanking all of our Church and Dwight employees around the world for executing so well in a volatile environment. I'll begin with some thoughts on the broader environment and then review our Q3 results, and then I'll turn it over to Lee McChesney or CFO, and when Lee is done, we'll open it up for questions.
Starting with the broader environment, conditions remain challenging, including inflationary pressure related to the Middle East conflict and increasing global transportation rates. That said, our teams continue to execute with excellence. Our portfolio of value and premium brands, they are performing well, and we remain focused on offering consumers high-quality solution-oriented products at the right value. Our power brands drove our third consecutive quarter of industry-leading organic sales growth supported by innovation, distribution lens, and targeted marketing investment.
Turning to the quarter, we exceeded our outlook across key metrics. Net sales increased 1 percent ahead of our outlook of a 1 percent decline. Organic sales grew 5.1 percent well above our 3 percent outlook with growth across all three divisions. This performance was driven primarily by volume growth of 4.6 percent and positive price in the mix of 0.5 percent. Gross margin was up 46.8 percent, up 170 basis points, and adjusted EPS was 92 percent, up almost 14 percent, and above our 89 percent outlook.
Innovation and distribution gains continue to be key drivers of our organic growth performance. Our 26 innovations across the power brands are performing very well, and we remain confident that our relentless focus on innovation will continue to drive industry-leading growth on shelf and fuel market share expansion.
Now I'll turn my comments to each of the three divisions. First up is the U. S. consumer business, domestic organic sales increased 4.4 percent, driven by 3.6 percent volume growth, and favorable price in product mix of 0.8 percent. Growth was broad-based across our household and personal care portfolios, led by Armand Hammer liquid laundry detergent, Therabreath mouthwash, and toothpaste, Armand Hammer cat litter, and water pick water flossers. This mouth is also off to a great start.
This quarter, we had such broad-based growth. I didn't list them all, but six brands contributed in a meaningful way. The Armand Hammer brand, which had another quarter of growth, with laundry hitting record shares across total laundry, Armand Hammer laundry detergent consumption grew over 4 percent, and the category grew about 2 percent in the quarter. Promotional levels for the category were elevated, however Armand Hammer gained share, as the value segment in laundry continues to be fit for purpose in this economic environment.
Next up is letter. Continued fantastic results as Armand Hammer cat litter consumption grew 5.4 percent, and share increased 0.6 points to reach 24 percent. While category of emotional levels declined slightly, they do remain at historical high levels. Our Armand Hammer cat litter dual defense with micro-band clumping litter launch continues to do very well.
Now turning to the personal care side of the business, Therabreath continues to contribute considerably to our overall performance as the brand gained 3.5 share points to reach a record share level of 26.8 percent, which further solidified our number two position in total mouthwash. Even with that growth, household penetration remains relatively low at only 14 percent compared to the mouthwash category of 65 percent.
Therabreath complete is now the top selling new rents nationally, and we recently launched portable rent sachets for freshness on the go. Therabreath toothpaste is building trial, and an everyday regiment through a robust marketing campaign with strong average consumer ratings of 4.5 stars. Heroes expanding its acne expertise in the cleansers with a lineup designed to balance efficacy and gentleness. Hero consumption outpaced the patch category in the quarter, and we're confident that the cleansers launch will lead to share gains in total acne.
In fact, in the last four weeks, that is happening. Facial cleansers represent a $650 million category, and account for approximately 30 percent of the total acne category. Lots of runway for hero, and again, we have relatively low household penetration at 10 percent compared to the category at 30, which gives us great confidence in the continued growth of the brand.
Turning to water pick, that business had double-digit sales growth in the quarter and is gaining share in 2026. As we discussed on the last quarter, touch of the sales growth in the U. S. is slowed from our original expectations due to competitive products growing in channels that we did not compete in. The good news is that our plans to expand distribution in the U. S. are on track, and as a reminder, a significant opportunity remains on household penetration in the U. S. , where touch is only 6 percent compared to the category, which is around 47 percent.
Additionally, the international rollout for touchland remains significant. We recently launched touchland in the U. K. in Australia, and the early results have been excellent. We have plans for a much broader distribution in 27 and 28.
Turning to international organic sales delivered another strong quarter of growth, and grew organically 7.8 percent, during by volume growth of 9.1 percent, partially offset by lower price and product mix of 1.3 percent. Again, similar to the U. S. , growth was broad-based, was led by Therabreath, Patis, Touchland, and Oxyclaim. In fact, nine brands in international had double-digit growth.
Global ECOM was once again a strong contributor. Revenue grew 20 percent in the quarter, and global online sales now represent 25.9 percent of total consumer sales. Our SPD division also delivered strong results, organic sales growth of 5 percent, reflecting volume growth of 2.9 percent, and higher price and product mix of 2.1.
These balanced global results contributed to our overall great organic growth performance in the quarter. This was now our 11th straight quarter of organic growth in the SPD business. Regarding 2026, I continue to be very pleased with our performance in the first nine months of the year. Our brands remain strong. Our portfolio is more focused following the strategic actions we completed in 2025.
Our operating fundamentals continue to support volume growth, market share gains, and growth margin expansion. Looking ahead to 2027, I'm also very optimistic that the company's performance. We have momentum as we enter the year. Our teams are advancing our 2030 growth initiatives, focusing on expanding our arm and hammer, increasing their breath in oral care, and scaling our international business.
I look forward to sharing our first formal update on these initiatives and our analysts today at the end of January. With that, I'll turn the call over to Lee for more detail in the quarter.
All right.
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Well, thank you, Rick, and good day, everyone. We appreciate you joining the call. As Rick just shared, our teams delivered another strong quarter in 2026. Against the backdrop, backdrop of ongoing industry headwinds and uncertainty, our team has delivered three quarters of 5% plus profitable organic growth. A big thank you to our team members and all of our retail and distribution partners for driving growth really well done.
So let's get into the details. We'll start with EPS. Third quarter just EPS was 92 cents, an increase of 13.6% versus last year, and it was above our outlook of 89 cents. Stronger than expected sales and continued growth margin expansion fueled the earnings growth, enabled healthy levels of marketing and supported our SG&A investments.
Organic sales in the third quarter grew 5.1%, well above our outlook of approximately 3%. Growth was broad-based and primarily volume-driven, with volume growth of 4.6% and positive price and mix of 0.5%. Our consumer domestic business, organic sales, increased 4.4%, our consumer international business increased 7.8% and our specialty products business increased 5%. This steady and broad-based growth continues to demonstrate the strength of our portfolio categories or innovation that drives true incremental growth and the execution mindset of our commercial teams.
Let's now turn to gross margin. Our third quarter gross margin increased to 46.8%, an increase of 170 basis points versus last year. Productivity delivered 150 basis points, our acquisition mix and production drove 160 basis points and 40 basis points was a combination of volume, price, mix and effects.
These positive contributions were partially offset by the headwinds from inflation and transportation costs of 180 basis points. And this quarter, our marketing investment levels reached 11.9% of sales as we continue to invest behind our brands and new products. Adjusted SG&A was 261 million or 16.3% of net sales, an increase of 110 basis points versus last year. The increase reflects acquisition-related amortization in our SG&A investments in international, e-commerce and AI capability building.
Adjusted income from operations increased 27 million or 10.1% to 298 million reflecting our strong, profitable growth results. Let's now turn to cash from operations for the first nine months of 2026, was 841 million, which drove a healthy cash flow conversion of 114%. Capital expenditures totaled 92 million through the third, and we expect full-year capital expenditures to be approximately 125 million or about 2% of sales.
And as for the third quarter, as of the third quarter, total debt was 2 point cash on hand was 447 million. Our Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program authorizing up to $1 billion of common stock repurchases. This program has no expiration date and replaces the prior authorization. This program is consistent with our disciplined approach to capital allocation.
It gives us additional flexibility to return capital by continuing to invest in the business and pursue strategic acquisition opportunities.
Let's now turn to our 2026 out. As detailed this morning in our press release, we are raising our sales expectations and tightening our adjusted EPS outlook. Our outlook reflects the strong year-to-day growth, confidence, and continued fourth quarter momentum.
It also includes the latest impact of the Middle East commodity pressures and the latest transportation rates that have both increased further over the past 90 days. Overall, our outlook for 2026 includes approximately $150 million of inflation, which brings us up to 50 million more than we had in our original outlook at the beginning of 2026 and 20 million more than our July outlook.
This outlook assumes roughly a crude oil price of $100 a barrel. Now, our teams have continued to focus on delivering incremental productivity and leveraging an RGM toolkit to mitigate this pressure, which has helped our business deliver gross margin improvements every quarter in 2026. For 26, we now expect organic sales growth of approximately 5 percent at the high end of our prior range of 4 percent to 5 percent.
We now expect adjusted gross margin to expand approximately 100 basis points, inclusive of the latest cost headway. In our market investments remain at approximately 11 percent of sales, reflecting our continued commitment to brand investment.
SG&A as a percentage of sales is expected to remain above 2025 levels, including acquisitions, our target investments and growth initiatives, AI capabilities, e-commerce, and our international business.
The adjusted tax rate is expected to be approximately 21 percent, and we now expect adjusted EPS of approximately 7 percent tightening on our prior range of 6 percent to 8 percent. Our cash from operations outlook remains approximately 1.175 billion, and if we turn to the fourth quarter, we expect organic sales growth of approximately 4 percent, and the adjusted EPS is expected to increase 17 percent to 19 percent versus last year.
To close out our remarks, let me reiterate, we are very pleased with the third quarter performance and remain confident in our ability to deliver an improved 2026 outlook. Our strong portfolio continued share gains and disciplined execution position as well as we look forward to 2027. Matt, we are now ready for questions.
Questions and answers
We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Anna Lazul with Bank of America. Anna, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Anna LizzulAnalyst, Bank of America
Hi. Good morning. Thank you so much for the question. Rick, your portfolio is clearly performing really well with innovation across categories, which has elevated your mix and made it a bit more premium over time. I was wondering if you could talk about innovation on the value tier, especially in light of some higher promotional activity you mentioned from peers.
Then on the cost side, I wanted to ask how we should start thinking about gross margin expansion in the early 2027, just given the heightened inflationary environment and the pressure that you might be seeing there. Thank you.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Thanks, Anna. So, I think innovation has become a core competency of Church and Dwight. We just had Carlos Lanera, who was our third R&D for many years, retire, and what he brought to this company, I think, was just a great multi-factor way to innovate.
And so we built this muscle. And it's not a muscle that we've built just in personal care, it's a household as well. Now, we've gone through the Arm and Hammer strategy, and part of that's a good, better best strategy for laundry and for litter. And there's a lot of work going on with household innovation. You'll see some stuff coming in 2027, but in fact, I just sat through 2028 probably two weeks ago, and I was really encouraged about the entire innovation portfolio, especially household for 2028. So, I think it's broad-based.
We always want to compete on innovation, you know, value is not just price, it's what the consumer's getting when you intersect value in price. So that's how you win with innovation over long period of time.
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
And then, Lee, you want to take the forward-looking- Yeah. So, I mean, to your point, now we certainly know what commodities are today. That's certainly what everyone's faced in the business.
And we have, you know, some good confidence as you look for here. We look at productivity levels of where we are today. We're going to have a record-level productivity in 2026, and as we sit here today, we're actually the same time last year, we're actually a little bit favorable to that, so that's a good start for next year.
You know, we have our RGM toolkit that's served as well this year. It seems to rally around that for 27 as well. And then, certainly, we have a nice positive drive towards good mix from innovation and from the portfolio. So, you know, all those things are in play, and, you know, again, it's all against the backdrop of the inflation we see today. So, you know, as we said, we're optimistic for 27, and, you know, we'll continue to respond to the macro environment.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I would maybe add one or two comments to that. I think the other thing that's kind of not unique but kind of normal is we actually get fixed cost leverage next year, right? This year, our reported sales growth is essentially flat to up 1%, organically, we're doing great. But remember, we shed $400 million of businesses next year, our organically reported numbers will be a lot closer, and that provides some leverage.
And, as we said, you know, we had a record year of productivity, looking at what we know right now, we expect another record year next year for productivity, so those are great tailwinds.
Okay, great. Thank you both. Very helpful.
Your next question comes from the line of Peter Grom with UBS. Peter, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Peter GromAnalyst, UBS
Great. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Happy Friday. Your two top line related questions, Rick, you know, at first, they used to start. We'd love to get some perspective on what you're seeing from a category standpoint. You know, obviously, there's a lot of moving pieces across different categories that, clearly, if you've seen any major shifts as we move through the quarter, and I know a lot can change between now and January, but just, you know, any thoughts on how you see category growth progressing over the next college of 12 to 18 months. And then I guess just related to that, you know, the four key organic sales guidance, a bit of a step down versus what we've seen year to date, despite it, an easier comparison, understanding you have a track record of all delivering, but truly, you could bet you simply, you know, conservatism given the external environment, or is there something else driving that view?
Thanks.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Thanks, Peter. You know, I think, first of all, categories, I'm actually a little bit more bullish on these days. I think we started the year saying category growth of around 2%.
Q1, Q2, and Q3 now of all kind of been at or above 2.5%, like we had a strong Q1 of around 3.5. Q2 was 2.7, and then Q3 was 2.5. So I'll look for categories closer to 2.5%. And also, I would say, as we look forward, in 2027, we think it's around 2.5%. So that's all a good thing. On Q4 organic sales, look, you know, 4% is still super high compared to the rest of the industry.
Maybe we're being a little conservative, I would say, our trends are very strong as we look at October even.
Awesome. Thank you so much for that. That's it.
Your next question comes from the line of Bonnie Hersong with Goldman Sachs. Bonnie, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Bonnie HerzogAnalyst, Goldman Sachs
Okay. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I had just a quick follow-up on gross margins, and then another question. But first, how hedged are you on commodities heading into next year? Are you guys below your typical levels? And then I did have a question on your pricing and promotions. You know, as we think about the consumer, you know, consumption remains pressured, you know, and stretched consumer wallets. So could you talk about how you're thinking about pricing for the rest of this year and into next year, also, you know, with gas prices still elevated? You know, what are you seeing in terms of promotional intensity in your categories? Are there certain categories that are still, you know, more impacted than others?
Thank you.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Why don't I take the pricing and promotion question and then Lee can circle back on gross margin and hedging? So what the consumer is still stretched. A lot of inflation happening out there. You're right. Gas prices are up. Disposable income. That means the disposal income is down.
When you have this amount of inflation, typically promotional levels kind of retread a bit. That hasn't happened largely, I think, because manufacturers have spent back kind of tariff refunds to help extend promotional spending. As I said, kind of in my prepared remarks in laundry, as an example, amount sold on deal for the category went from the mid-30s typically to around 40.
We also did that. We're getting a share in this environment. The value part of the segment is growing, but promotional spending is up versus historical levels for laundry and litter.
But elasticities are still strong. So when that happens, you do see the volumes kind of come in and react. I guess my comments on pricing and inflation in general is we've been very clear. We are first and foremost going after productivity. And you just heard me say we had record productivity this year. We think we're going to have record productivity next year.
That's what we do first and foremost. We then do what we said. We look at our revenue growth management and promotional spending. And when inflation is elevated, typically promotional levels do come down. That's what we've seen over the last 20 years. And then the last is price. And I'll say if inflation maintains at this type of level, historically, the perspective is companies have to move. If it's not transitory, if it's structural, then it starts to make its way throughout the entire kind of cost picture. But we hit number one and number two, the hardest, and then if we need to, then we look at number three.
Lee, you want to talk about hedging and gross market?
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Sure. So as Rick and I talked about, I've got lots of things that help drive gross margin improvement. We've always done a healthy amount of hedging in key areas. We talked about earlier this year as some of the inflation came along. And then with all the volatility, we've paused a bit, but we've been back at it and hedging going into 27.
We'd say at this point right now, we're actually slightly hedged a bit more than we were this time last year. But you have to consider that we've hedged certain key things that we purchased. Right now, you're just seeing inflation everywhere. So the impact's helpful, but certainly just the overall inflation bucket is larger as we look for here. But that's all part of the math we talked about earlier that we're looking at and facing into for 27 with all of our tools.
All right. Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parek with Oppenheimer. Rupesh, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Rupesh ParikhAnalyst, Oppenheimer
Good morning. And thanks for taking my question. So on the hero business, I was just curious how that continues to perform an international market.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Rupesh, you know, international, it's actually a great growth driver. We should have listed it in the release for international, maybe that was just an oversight, but it's definitely a net sales driver, consumptions up, sales are up, in the U. S. , gain share and patches.
Last four weeks, we've gained share in all of Acne. Cleanzers are off to a good start, 4.5 stars, some reviews. Sales were slightly down in the U. S. , but consumption was up, but sales were only slightly down because remember a third of that business is online and some of that shifted as Prime Day had shifted from July to June.
So we feel great about hero. We feel great about the innovation coming for hero. A lot of positive things.
Rupesh ParikhAnalyst, Oppenheimer
Okay. Great. And then I guess my follow-up question, just on Touchland, so your team has cited slowing growth for that business. What are the updated growth expectations for this year? And I guess we're probably out of the way for next year, but just curious, as you think about international, I don't know if there's a way to think about the level of growth going forward when you incorporate some of the international opportunity.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. On Touchland, I would say the business is going to be close to Flatish all in, but with the confirmed distribution gains that we've already heard about in the U. S. and with the international launch plans, which are underway now, we expect growth in 2027, so that's the good news.
Rupesh ParikhAnalyst, Oppenheimer
Okay. Thank you.
You're next question. Come from the line of Chris Carey with Wells Fargo. Chris, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Chris CareyAnalyst, Wells Fargo
Hey. Did it come through? Is there any remaining impact in Q4? Maybe it's within that net inflation number, but I just wanted to confirm that, then I will follow-up.
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, sure. So Chris, it was a net about $15 million in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter, we expected to be about $5 million.
Chris CareyAnalyst, Wells Fargo
Great. And that lives in that inflation figure that you gave in the quarter?
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yep. I understand.
Chris CareyAnalyst, Wells Fargo
Okay. The bigger question, you know, with your, you know, one of your key strategies is to expand the oral care business. I get the question a lot. You know, how long can there are about sustained growth? I realize you gave some tidbits about household penetration, but maybe you could just expand a bit as we head into next year.
Secondly, on the toothpaste side of the business, the growth has been very strong. You obviously got, I think, the distribution you thought you would get, you did get, as of last call, you were still in that assessing whether it was, you know, the distribution and you were still assessing a kind of repeat demand.
Can you give us a sense of these two items really within the concept of the oral care business and how durable you think above average growth can be going into 2027, given your multi-year plan set that you laid out at the prior semester. Thank you.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I'll give you some color. We're going to go through a lot more detail in January on the growth initiatives, but basically on Therabeth mouthwash, we think there's still a ton of room to run. We're within six or seven share points of Listerine these days. We're growing double digits, the category is flat. We're winning with innovation, we're winning with, on the shelf space, we're winning with the marketing and reaching the consumer.
Our repeat rate is fantastic, customer loyalty is growing. So, across the board, we believe that Therabeth mouthwash has still a long runway, and the one fact that I continue to hit again and again is just household penetration for Therabeth versus the category, and I think that's a good approximation.
And meanwhile, that's just time of the U. S. Therabreath is a fantastic brand globally. It is starting to win globally.
We just introduced that actually in Japan, remember we bought Graphico, our distributor a few years back, and now we're putting a few of our brands through that distributor, like Water Pick, like Hero, like Therabreath. I think Therabreath has already reached like 15 or 20% of their sales in a matter of 12 months or less. So, that trend, that need, problem solution brand for mouthwash is not just a U. S. trend or need. That is a global consumer need, so a lot of optimism about the global expansion of Therabreath.
Meanwhile, Therabreath paste, like I said last call, off to a great start, we have a one share already on the paste.
Repeat rate is closing it on 30%, which is actually really good for a toothpaste innovation, because there's high brand loyalty for toothpaste typically. So, we got trial, and now we're getting a repeat rate up, and we're laser focused on that. Meanwhile, I think I'll hold any other further comments to January on how each of the initiatives are going, but I would just say I expect those growth initiatives to be tailwinds in 27, 28, and 29.
Chris CareyAnalyst, Wells Fargo
Okay. Thank you both.
Your next question comes from the line of Nick Modi with RBC capital markets. Nick, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Rick, can you just, you know, I wanted to follow up on that operating leverage question. You know, you said you'll start seeing it next year because, you know, you're going to be lacking the loss of the revenue, but I suppose you're also spending a lot of money to try to fix those businesses before you sold them. So, if you can maybe give us some context on, you know, if that will be a meaningful, you know, contributor for next year, or at least over the next six to 12 months.
And then if you could just provide any more distribution clarity on touch them, like, are you going mass broad? Is it going to be more targeted? You know, any, any conflicts would be helpful.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Okay, Nick. You know, my comment on, you know, the question before I think from Bonnie was really like, hey, help us understand why we think we have some positive tailwinds on gross margin. We have multiple positive tailwinds on gross margin, one of which is just being able to leverage our fixed costs. And I think in 2026 or 2025, you're right. We had some higher spending that was happening. A lot of that higher spending was actually happening in the marketing line and the gross-to-net line.
Not necessarily on the cost of goods line. So that comparable is already good and done with, and then as we move forward, we're going to have real revenue growth and you should expect some leverage and that's a tailwind. That's really the only point. Not really trying to quantify that. It's just a normal tailwind for any business as we have real growth.
The second question on touchland, I would say it's a little bit broader base than where we're at now. It's going to be in a couple of different classes of trade, which is good. It's one big step in the right direction and we already have confirmed the acceptances with that. And meanwhile, in the beauty class of trade, we're working hard on making sure we have innovations and exclusives in order to differentiate that a bit. So I would say I'm really, really happy with the progress we've made and I'm optimistic.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
Great. Just one quick follow up on that. Is the spacing going to be, you know, with beauty and mass or, you know, because I know that was a big debate point, like I'm just curious where you all fell out on that in terms of where it actually is being placed at retail.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, that's where we expected to be. Thanks for passing on.
Your next question comes from the line of Andrea Teshira with JP Morgan. Andrea, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Andrea TeixeiraAnalyst, JPMorgan
Thank you, operator and good morning, everyone. I was just hoping if you we can elaborate a little bit more on the pricing. You mentioned obviously that could be like the pressures obviously for 2027 will be higher.
I was wondering if you can comment on how to position now. In tonight's year, you have had tremendous success with your productivity program. You just alluded to the pressures being higher, but you've been able kind of like I want to summarize it. It's been correct me from wrong that you're still looking for margin equation. I don't, I don't think you took that back from your evergreen models in tonight's year. So just to think as we as we put in pricing into next year, how we should be thinking is it's not, it will be only with innovation.
Just so you can help us think about your negotiations at this point.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, thanks for the question, Andrea. I'm not going to make any more comments on pricing than what I've already made. And just to reemphasize it, I said first and foremost, we focus on productivity. And we've done that in such a good way this year, hitting record levels. We expect to have record levels for next year. And we can see around the corner at that already.
Number two, we expect promotions to come down over time as inflation is sustained at these levels. And then number three, I just said that if inflation remains at these levels, typically the industry is priced in those examples when it becomes more structural or not transitory. That's the extent to which I'll talk about pricing. Our evergreen model is to have gross margin expansion.
Revenue growth and margin expansion are the two things that are the lifeblood of any organization. And you have to have all the right things in order to do that though. You have to have a productivity program, you have to have the right innovation, you have to have consumer moving innovation that people want to pay for. So we have some great tailwinds and our goal each and every year is to expand margin.
Andrea TeixeiraAnalyst, JPMorgan
Thank you week.
Your next question comes from the line of Olivia Tong with Raymond James. Olivia, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Olivia TongAnalyst, Raymond James
Great. Thanks. Good morning. I want to talk about the top line given the upside this quarter and, and quite frankly, all through the year. You mentioned obviously the category doing a little bit better. Obviously, you've gained some share. Can you talk about which elements of these you think are most repeatable and where you think there is still more work to do to sort of maintain momentum across the key categories. Obviously, touchland was a bit of a tough one this year. You talked about some of the games next year, but just thinking through the drivers of the top line next year. And then my follow up is just around international.
If you could talk about sort of the next 12 months, your thoughts around international expansion from where you are right now. Notice that price makes obviously was swung the other way this quarter. If you could talk about that, whether there was more investment in price makes or if there was something else that was driving that. Thanks so much.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, a problem Olivia. I would say I'm really encouraged with the top line. You know, number one, it matters what categories you're at. And our categories, I would pick our categories over almost any other company out there.
The balance of premium value, the lack of private label exposure in general. There are a lot of good things to say and why our categories are growing around 2.5%. Fantastic. Then we tend to take share over time. Like I said before, innovation muscle is alive and well. Our marketing and commercial teams are doing a great job gaining those TDPs. We were the second highest TDP growth. I let everyone know that last quarter as an example for 2026.
So there's a lot going right. And our growth isn't just one brand. It's broad base. I said that in my prepared remarks. Maundry, litter, their breath, water picked a feast, baking soda. I mean, there's a whole host of drivers. Internationally, like I said before, it's not one brand or two brands. It's nine brands that had double digit growth.
They're doing a great job taking our recent acquisitions like Therabreath and Hero Global. And I gave you the example about Japan.
So it's very broad based. I believe it's very sustainable. And then you throw on top of that the growth initiatives that we've been working on. Remember all the time that we spent maybe a year and a half or two years ago on 16 business that were at structural disadvantages. We're spending all that time on innovation and on the growth initiatives.
And the growth initiatives are laying the groundwork. And I'm going to announce in January the category that we're going to go into in the U. S. for Arm and Hammer, but we have a lot of optimism about that. And then finally for International, it's all about also M&A. A year or two ago, our M&A portfolio and kind of diligence was all U. S. based. That's not true anymore.
We're looking at acquisitions all the time outside the U. S. And moving down the field fairly quickly through the filters and that process is getting more repeatable and more sustainable. And I'm optimistic.
Olivia TongAnalyst, Raymond James
Thanks, Rick.
Your next question comes from the line of Kumail Garjarola with Japanese. Kumail, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Janes
Thank you. You guys. Good morning. I guess you answered a little bit of this in your M&A commentary just now, but maybe if you could put that in the context of the buyback as well. Was this just housekeeping and sort of reauthorizing a plan? Or is there maybe a bigger, broader indication on speed of buyback or how you're sort of envisioning what may or may not be around for M&A in the future?
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I would call it more housekeeping than anything. We were getting to the end of our previous authorizations. So you always want to make sure you have flexibility as you look forward in the future. That's probably how to characterize it.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Janes
Yeah. It was a program for 21. So it was time to renew. Okay. Got it. And then as it relates to margins, you know, this is a gross margin specifically. You're doing a bit single-digit growth. You'll have some leverage next year, a bit of pricing, it sounds like. But I think you guys, unlike some other companies, do incentivize specifically on gross margins.
How are you sort of thinking about what is the appropriate target to shoot for for 2027 in the context of what we're seeing in various input costs? The consumer environment, all those types of things.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
It's a great question. I think, I don't think we'll get into that level of detail yet. If you want to ask it again in January, feel free. But now we're going to have inflation that's quite large next year. But offsetting that, we're going to have productivity.
We have mix of the tail end typically, especially as you think about. They're breath or miss mouth, even touch them globally. And then like I said before, about fixed cost. So there's a lot of things going on our direction. We always believe that we can expand margin.
Just not ready to put that out there yet. It's about two or three months too soon.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Janes
Okay, got it. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Lauren Lieberman with Barclays. Lauren, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Lauren LiebermanAnalyst, Barclays
Great. Thanks. Good morning. I just wanted to ask about the revised net sale guidance because the implications for Q suggest the structural, the puts and takes of acquisitions and divestitures is a net negative. I think this tree, we're all expecting that to be positive.
And given we kind of knew how to think about VMS and the divestiture, that makes me wonder if miss mouth is a bit slower. So just curious if you could talk about miss mouth trends and just sort of conversations on incremental distribution plans for 27 and just also statistically that 4Q dynamic. Thanks.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, sure. I don't remember who asked me. Maybe it was Peter. I think if you take all the noise away, we are saying that, hey, we've grown 5% for the last three quarters and our outlook for the years 5%. That makes the math 4%. That was the high end of our range previously. I just don't think we have a lot to gain by going above our normal range. So maybe we're a little conservative on the quarter call, but it is what it is at 4%. We think 4% is head and shoulders above almost anybody else out there.
Lee, anything you want to add?
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, I would just say miss mouth is to a great start. The outlook for the year is still very strong. Great consumption numbers did really well during the prime day season. So as we said before, super optimistic, no less optimistic, probably even more optimistic as you look forward.
Lauren LiebermanAnalyst, Barclays
Okay. Thanks a lot.
Your next question comes from the line of Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank. Steve, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Steve PowersAnalyst, Deutsche Bank
Okay. Thank you very much. One quick housekeeping. Lee, you mentioned the $100 oil. Can you remind me if you guys benchmarked the WTI or Brent?
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, it would be WTI. I just keep an eye. We buy products that aren't always going to be proportional to oil. That's a good reference for you.
Steve PowersAnalyst, Deutsche Bank
Yeah. Perfect. And then just another kind of follow up. You mentioned hutchland finishing in a roundabout flatish on the year. I guess how does that compare with, you know, year to date performance? Like my sense is there's been growth. So that implies maybe some for queue decline. So if that's the case, then I understand the overall optimism looking into next year with distribution international, but maybe just, you know, how quickly you can turn those declines into positives we think about the progress into next year. Thanks.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I would say we do expect, I think, growth in Q4. I think in Q3, it was slightly negative. But it's a sales and shipment timing when you've got to get out of the different seasons and programs.
So for the full year, flatish is the call. I guess I just have a better lens into what retailers have accepted, what programs are in as Nick was kind of alluding to, like, in at least one major retailer. This is in the beauty set. And the set is absolutely beautiful.
It's right where we would want it to be. The displays look great. The packaging is right where we want it to be.
And we believe that a lot of times consumers are going to the store and they're looking for this because customs kind of created a category that didn't really exist. And then they don't have the choice to buy the Tesla brand. There's only one alternative. And so we believe that once they are in more of a accessible retail distribution, then consumers will pick the Tesla product.
I think what we're seeing internationally is also off to a great start. You know, in one retailer just a couple of weeks ago, they sold out in a matter of hours what they thought they were going to do for one week. So we're trying to make sure we go broad quickly and get through all the regulatory barriers that are in place around the world. And we've made a lot of progress in doing that. And we think we're going to have some great success next year. So that's kind of why I have optimism.
Steve PowersAnalyst, Deutsche Bank
Yeah, that makes sense. And as those here, your comments on the exit rate, that helps a lot. Okay. Thank you.
Next question comes from the line of Filippo Falorni with city. Filippo, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Filippo FalorniAnalyst, Citi
Hi, good morning, everyone. I have to quite a clarification one on the cost inflation, the 150 million that you mentioned Lee. Can you give us a sense of how much is the raw material piece versus the transportation?
And just more broadly, I love to hear your thoughts on just the transport piece. We're hearing a lot of companies thinking this is a bit more structural. All the had been given shortages in drivers.
So like how are you thinking about that potential had been continued from here?
Lee McChesneyExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
I'll start me. I would just say the move from $30 million to $50 million of incremental inflation, it was a mix of commodities and a mix of transportation. Now to your point, the transportation, we're viewing that as the situation. That is mostly linked to the driver rules in the U. S. and just creating a shortage of drivers. So that's the mindset. And accordingly we're responding around that.
Trying to make sure we do the most efficient things in transportation. That's all part of what we're looking into as we put together our plans for 27. And we're not transportation experts, but I would say that when spot rate rates go up 40%, that's specifically transitory. Like supply and demand forces balance out over time. And we've seen in years past where we've had large spikes, but over 20 years or so, on average usually you have 3% to 5% inflation and transportation rates. And so this might be a little bit more stressful for a period of time, but over time it will also balance out.
Filippo FalorniAnalyst, Citi
Got it. Thanks. Thanks for the clarification. And one other one for you, Rick. You mentioned that M&A international, obviously this has come up more in recent quarters. Can you just remind us your criteria for M&A international? Is it the same as your U. S. M&A? Could you potentially think about larger size to get more exposure in some international market?
Any thoughts on your criteria that will be helpful? Thank you.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yep, fair question. I think the criteria is very similar, but there's just a couple of asterisks. Like, of course you wanted to be number one, number two brand. That doesn't go away. Of course you wanted to be gross margin or creative asset light with the real competitive advantage. I think we're more willing to accept a plant or a factory in these examples, because then you can bring in some of our other products potentially. We're more willing to buy an entire business there that you need the entire back office, for example, especially if you're going into a different country.
So I think there's a little bit more latitude, but it all makes sense.
Filippo FalorniAnalyst, Citi
Great. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Edward Lewis with Roth's Child and Co. Edward, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Edward LewisAnalyst, Rothschild & Co.
Thanks very much. Yes. Rick, I was looking at the e-commerce performance. It's up at 25.9% of consumer sales in Q3 in this quarter. You've had quite a significant move in that percentage. I guess over the past few years, the divestment presumably helped. But how much of an advantage is that giving you at the moment? Is that why you think you're growing ahead of the categories as we talked about?
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
I think that's insightful. I think partially yes, I think we're from a laggard to leader on e-commerce growth. We've been ahead of the curve for a while now on typically gaining share with these brands online. When you look at retail, if you take a big step back, a lot of the growth at retail is what? It's coming from e-commerce.
So that's one. I kind of acknowledge that. But number two is mixed matters. And some of the businesses that we sold had low exposure to online businesses and sales. And some of the businesses that we've bought, like Touchland, like Ms. Mouth, are over-indexed to online businesses or online sales. And so that's helped as well. So your portfolio mix also matters.
Your last question comes from the line of Sergio Matsumoto with TD Cohen. Sergio, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
Hi. Good morning. I'm calling on behalf of Rob Mascot. Thanks for the question. Back at the investor day, you discussed some retail sales through licensure partners and that you have through an incubator model. And potentially we are re-acquiring those brands. Are there any specific licensing categories that are showing good traction that perhaps, you know, makes sense to bring those brands back in house over the next 20 to 12 to 24 months?
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Sergio, that is an excellent question. I'm not going to give you as much as you want. I'll give you an update in January on our analyst day about that. I would say there's one that we've already taken back and there's two or three that we're looking at if they can get some key thresholds. And there's also, you know, a couple that we're going to ask.
You know, sometimes you go through an innovation process internally and then we think it has legs, but maybe another company's better set to get it off the ground. So we're having those conversations as well. So it's pretty broad-based and comprehensive and I'll give you more of an update at our analyst day.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
Great. Thanks. Looking forward to it.
There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Rick Durker for closing remarks.
Richard DierkerPresident and Chief Executive Officer
All right. Thank you very much. We had some fantastic results in Q3. Wasn't possible without a whole group of people at church in Hawaii to make that happen. So thanks for the entire team. We'll speak to everyone soon. Late January for analyst day. We're really looking forward to that too. Take care.
This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disc.
Other Church & Dwight earnings calls
- Q2 2026 earnings call
Management framed the quarter as broad-based, volume-led momentum enabling higher investment, stronger 2026 guidance, and greater confidence in long-term growth initiatives.
Jul 31, 2026Confident0.86
Done reading? Open Church & Dwight with the chart, filings, and estimates next to this call.
About this transcript
The summary, guidance, analyst focus, and tone are automated and should be checked against the call before being relied on. Names and figures can be misheard. Listen to the replay.