Hill's Grows 5.6 Percent in Q3 as Cats, Wet Food and Therapeutic Diets Outrun a Sluggish Category

Colgate-Palmolive's pet nutrition division reached about $1.21 billion in third quarter sales, with Prescription Diet cat up double digits, wet food climbing, and a deliberately slow US rollout for its new Fresh single protein diets.

By Good Company Editorial Desk

The News

Hill's Pet Nutrition was one of the clearest growth engines in Colgate-Palmolive's third quarter results, reported on October 30 for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Hill's net sales rose 5.6 percent, and organic sales rose 5.7 percent, built on volume growth of 1.8 percent and pricing growth of 3.9 percent, according to the company's release. Zacks reported Hill's net sales at $1.21 billion for the quarter. Hill's accounted for 22 percent of total company sales.

Excluding the business Colgate is exiting, the quarter was stronger still. Zacks reported organic sales growth of 6.4 percent excluding the impact of exiting the private label pet food business, and on the earnings call Chief Executive Officer Noel Wallace put the figure at 6.5 percent ex private label. Wallace was direct about the surprise: "Hill's had a terrific quarter, probably above our expectations," he said on the call, in a transcript published by The Motley Fool.

The growth was concentrated where Hill's has been deliberately aiming. Growth was broad based across Prescription Diet and Science Diet, with particularly strong performance in cat nutrition, according to Zacks. Prescription Diet cat rose by double digits, Prescription Diet dog rose at a high mid single digit rate, and Science Diet cat grew at a high single digit rate, according to management on the call. Wet food also rose strongly across both brands. The Prime100 acquisition continued delivering double digit organic growth, Zacks reported.

Colgate also used the quarter to keep expanding into fresh. Hill's expanded its US fresh pet food offerings through the phased rollout of Science Diet Single Protein dog food, according to Zacks. On the call, Wallace named the three diets launched in late June: chicken and brown rice, beef and carrot, and lamb and pumpkin. He stressed that Fresh was insignificant in the quarter and that the rollout is deliberate, methodical, and built for the long term rather than for a quarterly spike.

Why It Matters

The context matters more than the headline growth rate. Wallace repeatedly described the wider pet food category as relatively sluggish and subdued, with no material improvement through the first nine months of the year. Hill's did not grow because the category lifted it. It grew, in management's telling, by taking share in the segments that are still growing, and by being under indexed in exactly those segments.

That is the strategic point. Cat, wet food, therapeutic diets, and small pets are where Hill's says its penetration is still low. Wallace said the company has invested in Small Paws for the better part of five years, putting capital into understanding the nutritional and health needs of small pets, and he pointed to new comorbidity diets as a further opportunity. He also noted the flip side: dog dry food is relatively flat to down, and the business is seeing a migration to smaller pets. Hill's is positioning for the pet population that is actually forming, not the one the dry dog aisle was built for.

Therapeutic is the second engine, and it runs through veterinarians. Wallace said therapeutic had an excellent quarter, and that the advocacy the company is driving through the profession is playing out on the prescription side, with a halo effect on the rest of the business. In plain terms, a vet recommendation for a Prescription Diet formula does not only sell that formula. It builds trust in Science Diet on the wellness side too. That is a distribution advantage that a direct to consumer brand cannot buy quickly.

Third, Hill's turned the quarter into more marketing fuel. Wallace said Hill's gross margin rose 170 basis points in the quarter, and that the improvement is allowing the company to continue to accelerate advertising spend on Hill's because, in his words, the return on investment is there. Operating profit still rose 5 percent to $267 million, even as the division absorbed that extra advertising and the cost of launching Fresh, which is why its operating margin eased slightly to 22.2 percent of sales.

The Numbers

• Hill's net sales: up 5.6 percent in Q3 2026, to $1.21 billion as reported by Zacks; Hill's was 22 percent of Colgate total sales (Colgate release; Zacks)
• Hill's organic sales: up 5.7 percent, from volume up 1.8 percent and pricing up 3.9 percent, with foreign exchange down 0.1 percent (Colgate release)
• Excluding the private label exit: organic sales growth of 6.4 percent, according to Zacks; Wallace put it at 6.5 percent ex private label on the earnings call
• Hill's volume, ex private label: 1.2 percent in Q1, 1.2 percent in Q2, and 1.8 percent in Q3, according to Wallace on the call
• Hill's operating profit: $267 million, up 5 percent; operating margin 22.2 percent of net sales, down 20 basis points (Colgate release)
• Hill's gross margin: up 170 basis points in the quarter, according to Wallace on the call
• Prescription Diet cat: up double digits; Prescription Diet dog: up at a high mid single digit rate (management, via The Motley Fool transcript)
• Science Diet cat: up at a high single digit rate; wet food up strongly across Prescription Diet and Science Diet (management, via the transcript)
• Prime100: continued double digit organic growth, according to Zacks
• Fresh: Science Diet Single Protein launched in late June with three diets, chicken and brown rice, beef and carrot, and lamb and pumpkin; described by Wallace as insignificant in the quarter and in a deliberate, methodical rollout
• Colgate total company: net sales $5,369 million, up 4.6 percent; organic sales up 3.6 percent, including a 0.2 percent negative impact from lower private label pet food sales; GAAP earnings per share $0.94, up 3 percent; Base Business earnings per share $0.97, up 7 percent (Colgate release)
• Colgate guidance, narrowed and raised: full year 2026 net sales now expected up 4 percent to 5 percent, from 2 percent to 6 percent previously; Base Business earnings per share growth now expected at 5 percent to 7 percent; gross profit margin now expected to be up, from roughly flat previously (Colgate release)

What It Means For You

If you run a pet food brand, copy the focus, not the scale. Hill's is not trying to win every segment in a sluggish category. It named the growing pockets, cat, wet, therapeutic, and small pets, admitted where it is under indexed, and concentrated innovation, capacity, and advertising there. Wallace called the strategy "perhaps very redundantly boring because it is working for us." Boring and concentrated beats broad and hopeful when category growth is in the low single digits. Write down your own three growing pockets this week, and check whether your spend actually matches that list.

If you sell through veterinarians, protect that channel like an asset, because for Hill's it clearly is one. Therapeutic growth is feeding wellness growth through trust and recommendation. Brands without a vet route should think about what their equivalent trust transfer is: a shelter partnership, a trainer network, a groomer program, or credible clinical evidence behind a claim. Without a trust engine, premium pricing is just a higher number on the bag.

If you compete in fresh, read the Fresh rollout as patience, not weakness. The largest science led brand in the vet channel entered fresh with three single protein diets, called its own contribution insignificant in the quarter, and said it will roll out carefully to protect quality and its reputation with vets. If Hill's can afford to move slowly in fresh, a smaller brand should be even more careful about scaling production before repeat purchase and quality are proven.

If you are a retailer, expect more support, and more pressure, in cat and wet. Hill's is accelerating advertising because it says the return is there, and it has added wet capacity to supply the growth. That means more media behind cat and wet sets, and a stronger case for space in those aisles, while dry dog remains flat to down. Plan your set reviews accordingly, and bring your own data on small pet shoppers, who are the household segment Hill's has spent five years learning.

What To Watch

Watch the fourth quarter volume comp. Wallace warned that Hill's will be comping a more aggressive comparison in the fourth quarter, so the step up in ex private label volume from 1.2 percent to 1.8 percent may not repeat at the same pace. The underlying question is whether cat, wet, and therapeutic can keep offsetting flat to down dry dog.

Watch Fresh distribution through the balance of this year and into 2027. Management says the rollout will continue, deliberately. The signals to track are new retail and vet placements for the Single Protein diets, any expansion beyond the first three recipes, and whether Colgate starts reporting Fresh as a material contributor rather than a long term opportunity.

Watch whether the private label exit finally clears the reporting. Wallace said this should be the last quarter the company has to talk about private label, which would give a cleaner read on Hill's underlying growth in 2027. Watch also for Colgate's 2027 guidance in the first quarter of next year, which management declined to preview on this call, and watch advertising and margin together: Hill's operating margin eased even in a strong quarter because the company chose to invest, and if that spend keeps accelerating while the category stays sluggish, competitors will feel it in every auction, shelf negotiation, and vet visit in 2027.

Sources

• Colgate-Palmolive Company, "Colgate-Palmolive Announces 3rd Quarter 2026 Results," Business Wire, October 30, 2026: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261030142821/en/Colgate-Palmolive-Announces-3rd-Quarter-2026-Results
• The Motley Fool, "Colgate (CL) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript," October 30, 2026: https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/30/colgate-cl-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript/
• Zacks Investment Research, "Colgate Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates on Organic Sales & Pricing Gains," October 30, 2026: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/3019915/colgate-q3-earnings-beat-estimates-on-organic-sales-pricing-gains