Ecolab Inc. (ECL), a global provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, has introduced a program for healthcare laundries intended to address one of the costliest challenges faced by them – difficulty in removing medical adhesive stains. The program – Restora – is the first-of-its-kind solution in the commercial laundry.
The Restora program uses a patent-pending formula to remove medical adhesives from linen during the wash process. By using a proprietary blend of solvents and surfactants to dissolve medical adhesive, the formula is tough on adhesives but gentle on linen.
With the help of this program, healthcare laundries can reclaim linen that would have previously been discarded due to adhesive stains. This enables them to reprocess linen and significantly reduce replacement costs. According to the company, tests show that the Restora program can help healthcare laundries reclaim up to 99% of adhesive-stained linen.
Following the announcement, shares of this St. Paul, MN-based company climbed roughly 1.2% to close at $101.92 yesterday.
Ecolab is making continued investments in key areas such as energy, healthcare, water, food and beverage and global pest elimination. Last month, Ecolab committed $1.5 million to the Project WET Foundation – a nonprofit water resources education organization. The funds are expected to help the Project WET Foundation reach more than two million people with water conservation and hygiene education by 2017.
Ecolab also introduced the KAY QSR Managed Water Filtration Program to address the increasingly complex beverage demands of quick service restaurants in May 2014. With the combination of its advanced Cleaning & Sanitizing technologies, water treatment and pest elimination capabilities, we expect the company to generate good organic growth going forward.
Though we are positive about the company’s expansion into water and energy technologies, the entry into industrial markets could raise the cyclicality of demand and put additional pressure on Ecolab's performance. This may lead to higher potential risks for the company.
Ecolab also has significant exposure to the oil and gas markets. Lower crude oil prices may result in lower demand for Ecolab products that are used in drilling activities. We feel that the current decline in oil prices could be a possible strain on projected growth.
Currently, Ecolab carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Better-ranked stocks in the specialty chemicals industry include Mineral Technologies (MTX), NL Industries (NL) and Quaker Chemical (KWR). While Mineral Technologies and NL Industries sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Quaker carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
Be the first to comment