Analysts Adjust Targets for Church and Dwight Amid Sector Headwinds and Updated 2025 Guidance

Key Takeaways

• E-commerce growth and strong consumer demand in health and wellness categories are boosting margins, supporting sustained revenue and earnings momentum.
  
• Innovation, new product launches, and strategic acquisitions are driving higher market penetration and international diversification, strengthening future growth prospects.
  
• Margin compression from input cost inflation, weak vitamin segment, sluggish category growth, and overdependence on legacy brands threaten long-term profitability and revenue growth.

Catalysts

Develops, manufactures, and markets household, personal care, and specialty products.

• The strong trajectory of e-commerce and online sales, with Church & Dwight's online channel now accounting for 23% of global sales and driving category growth (notably with Touchland's success on Amazon and other platforms), positions the company to benefit from higher-margin, direct-to-consumer sales and increased market reach-this is likely to support revenue growth and margin expansion in future years.
  
• Secular increases in consumer focus on health, hygiene, and wellness-demonstrated by robust category and share growth in oral care (THERABREATH), acne solutions (HERO), and hand sanitizers (Touchland)-underscore potential for sustained volume growth and premium pricing, positively impacting both top-line revenues and net margins going forward.
  
• Innovation and new product launches remain a major internal catalyst: roughly half of recent organic growth is attributed to innovations (e.g., BATISTE Light, HERO Mighty Patch Body, Touchland new fragrances), which tend to command higher prices and increase household penetration, providing momentum for above-peer revenue growth and margin improvement.
  
• Bolt-on acquisitions in fast-growth segments (e.g., Touchland in hand sanitizers, HERO in acne care) continue to supplement organic growth, with newly acquired brands exhibiting significant runway for penetration and international rollout-supporting future revenue streams and potential for synergistic earnings growth.
  
• International growth remains robust, with Church & Dwight's international segment delivering mid-single-digit organic growth and successfully launching core U.S. brands abroad (e.g., HERO in 50 countries within 12 months), increasing geographic diversification and mitigating regional volatility, enhancing longer-term revenue stability and earnings resiliency.

Church & Dwight Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Church & Dwight's revenue will grow by 3.9% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 8.7% today to 14.7% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $1.0 billion (and earnings per share of $4.24) by about September 2028, up from $525.2 million today.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 29.0x on those 2028 earnings, down from 44.0x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Household Products industry at 21.6x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 0.57% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 6.78%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Church & Dwight Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• The company is experiencing significant underperformance in its vitamin (gummy/multivitamin) segment, with consumption down approximately 25% YoY and ongoing uncertainty about how to right the business; potential divestiture or restructuring could result in revenue dilution and stranded costs, impacting overall revenue and net margins.
  
• Ongoing and elevated input cost inflation and tariffs, particularly in international sourcing markets like China, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, are compressing gross margins, and current productivity initiatives have only partially offset these structural headwinds, threatening long-term earnings power if not mitigated.
  
• Increased promotional activity and rising retailer consolidation are leading to greater trade spend pressures, especially in litter and laundry categories, threatening net price realization and risking erosion of net margins if the landscape becomes more competitive or if value brands accelerate.
  
• Slower overall category growth in household and personal care, compounded by retailer destocking and more muted consumer confidence, means Church & Dwight's largest categories are growing below historical averages ("categories are growing slower than that this year"), putting long-term revenue growth targets at risk if secular stagnation persists.
  
• Overreliance on a concentrated set of legacy brands (e.g., ARM & HAMMER, BATISTE, THERABREATH), with episodic performance issues (BATISTE down almost 7% in the quarter due to competitive pressure and supply chain issues), increases vulnerability to changing consumer preferences, commoditization, and innovation fatigue, ultimately threatening sustained revenue growth and diluted brand equity.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $100.053 for Church & Dwight based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $120.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $73.0.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $6.8 billion, earnings will come to $1.0 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 29.0x, assuming you use a discount rate of 6.8%.
• Given the current share price of $94.91, the analyst price target of $100.05 is 5.1% higher. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.