HLF vs MLKMF vs CL Stock Comparison

Herbalife, Waldencast and Colgate Palmolive Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
HLF Herbalife Ltd.
$13.30 +5.9% 1M +59.5% 1Y
Market cap
$1.43B
P/E
8.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.20B
Div. yield
–
Personal Care Products Consumer Staples
4 wins
MLKMF Waldencast plc
$0.85 -17.5% 1M -55.7% 1Y
Market cap
$93.54M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Cosmetics Consumer Staples
CL Colgate Palmolive Co
$93.11 +8.2% 1M +19.4% 1Y
Market cap
$73.99B
P/E
36.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$21.05B
Div. yield
0.02%
Personal Care Products Consumer Staples
7 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Colgate Palmolive leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Colgate Palmolive 7, Herbalife 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionHLFMLKMFCLLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $1.43B $93.54M $73.99B CL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 8.7x — 36.3x HLF
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 5.3x — 24.8x HLF
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +5.5% — +5.2% HLF
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 3.2% — 9.7% CL
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 24.3% — 27.2% CL
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.6x — 1.7x CL
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.02% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +59.5% -55.7% +19.4% HLF
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -21.7%/yr -38.6%/yr +4.2%/yr CL
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 58.7% 100.6% 23.3% CL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 59/100 — 61/100 CL

Percentile Scorecard

HLFMLKMFCL

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisHLFMLKMFCL
Valuation 100 #1 of 52 – 47 #28 of 52
Growth 59 #21 of 50 – 57 #22 of 50
Profitability 84 #8 of 45 – 96 #3 of 45
Financial Health 29 #40 of 56 66 #20 of 56 51 #28 of 56
Shareholder Returns 23 #24 of 31 – 53 #15 of 31
Overall 59 – 61
  • HLF ranked among 60 companies in Household and Personal Products
  • MLKMF ranked among 60 companies in Household and Personal Products
  • CL ranked among 60 companies in Household and Personal Products

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodHLFMLKMFCLSPY
1 month +5.9%-17.5%+8.2% -0.8%
3 months +9.1%-50.6%+1.3% +3.5%
6 months -19.2%+10.4%+10.6% +7.0%
Year to date +3.2%-54.8%+17.8% +12.2%
1 year +59.5%-55.7%+19.4% +13.0%
3 years -4.7%-90.4%+29.7% +86.3%
3 years, per year -1.6%-54.2%+9.1% +23.1%
5 years -70.6%-91.2%+22.7% +68.6%
5 years, per year -21.7%-38.6%+4.2% +11.0%
10 years -55.6%—+30.7% +258.0%
10 years, per year -7.8%—+2.7% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureHLFMLKMFCLSPY
Volatility, 1Y 58.7%100.6%23.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 53.0%88.2%22.2% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.151.34-0.15 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.01-0.550.83 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -89.0%-93.5%-31.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -33.4%-72.4%-6.1% -1.8%
52-week high $19.96$3.08$99.14 $779.14
52-week low $7.75$0.75$74.98 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleHLFMLKMFCL
P/E now vs peer median 8.5xmedian 18.6x —median 18.6x 36.5xmedian 18.6x
P/S now vs peer median 0.3xmedian 1.6x —median 1.6x 3.5xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 4.8xmedian 13.0x —median 13.0x 21.4xmedian 13.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 4.3xmedian 18.4x —median 18.4x 19.2xmedian 18.4x
P/B now vs peer median -2.9xmedian 2.1x 0.2xmedian 2.1x 131.1xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median -0.73median 0.97 —median 0.97 3.01median 0.97

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsHLFMLKMFCL
Revenue $5.20B – $21.05B
Gross profit $4.04B – $12.72B
Operating income $492.30M – $3.13B
Net income $162.90M – $2.16B
Free cash flow $322.30M – $3.86B
EPS (diluted) $1.57 – $2.54
Cash & equivalents $370.50M $7.82M $1.37B
Total debt $8.02B $631.43M $7.86B
Shares (diluted) 104.50M 114.07M 801.80M
Enterprise value -$47.60M $31.57M $68.72B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricHLFMLKMFCL
P/E 8.5x – 36.5x
P/FCF 4.3x – 19.2x
P/Operating cash flow 3.6x – 16.7x
P/S 0.3x – 3.5x
P/B -2.9x 0.2x 131.1x
P/Tangible book -1.7x 0.3x -79.9x
EV/EBITDA 4.8x – 21.4x
EV/EBIT 6.2x – 25.8x
EV/Revenue 0.6x – 3.8x
EV/FCF 9.4x – 20.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 7.9x – 18.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -0.73 – 3.01

Growth

14 metrics
MetricHLFMLKMFCL
Revenue growth (1Y) 5.5% – 5.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 1.0% – 4.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 5.0% – 5.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 1.3% – 6.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 0.7% – -26.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 4.6% – 1.1%
Net income growth (1Y) -49.9% – -29.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -10.3% – 8.9%
EPS growth (1Y) -50.1% – -29.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -11.5% – 12.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 44.7% – 13.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 8.0% – 12.9%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 88.0% – 14.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 27.4% – 17.9%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricHLFMLKMFCL
Gross margin 77.7% – 60.4%
EBITDA margin 12.1% – 17.9%
Operating margin 9.5% – 14.9%
Pretax margin 4.1% – 14.0%
Net margin 3.2% – 9.7%
FCF margin 6.2% – 18.3%
Operating cash flow margin 7.4% – 21.2%
Return on equity – – 410.8%
Return on assets 5.7% – 12.9%
Return on invested capital 24.3% – 27.2%
Return on capital employed 26.0% – 29.7%
Asset turnover 1.8x – 1.3x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.4x – 2.1x
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% – 0.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricHLFMLKMFCL
Debt / assets 70.5% 23.1% 46.8%
Debt / equity -4.2x 0.4x 13.9x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.6x – 1.7x
Debt / FCF 6.3x – 2.0x
Liabilities / assets 116.6% 39.5% 96.6%
Equity / assets -16.6% 60.5% 3.4%
Interest coverage 2.5x – 12.3x
Current ratio 1.2x 4.8x 1.0x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.1x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.1x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 2.45 – 6.88

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricHLFMLKMFCL
Dividend yield – – 2.3%
Net buyback yield 0.8% – 1.5%
Shareholder yield 0.8% – 3.8%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 84.3%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 47.2%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 1.1%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 1.9%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusHLFMLKMFCL
Forward P/E 5.3xFY2026 – 24.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.49FY2026 $-0.51FY2026 $3.75FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +17.5%FY2026 – +1.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +29.3% – +11.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $5.59BFY2026 $272.64MFY2026 $22.42BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +10.9%FY2026 +0.2%FY2026 +10.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -9.8% +10.6% +2.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersHLFMLKMFCL
Held by institutions 99.1% – 83.8%
Institutions holding 235 – 2,015
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.4% – 0.0%
Institutions buying 129 – 919
Institutions selling 72 – 720
Buyers to sellers 1.79 – 1.28

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

HLFMLKMFCL
HLF 1.00 0.20 0.28
MLKMF 0.20 1.00 0.16
CL 0.28 0.16 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, HLF, MLKMF and CL?

Colgate Palmolive (CL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Herbalife (HLF) $1.43B, Waldencast (MLKMF) $93.54M, Colgate Palmolive (CL) $73.99B.

Which stock is cheaper, HLF, MLKMF and CL?

Herbalife (HLF) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Herbalife (HLF) 8.7x, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 36.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Herbalife (HLF) is cheapest (Herbalife (HLF) 5.3x, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 24.8x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Herbalife (HLF) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Herbalife (HLF) +5.5%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) +5.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Colgate Palmolive (CL) has the highest net margin (Herbalife (HLF) 3.2%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 9.7%). On return on invested capital, Colgate Palmolive (CL) leads (Herbalife (HLF) 24.3%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 27.2%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Herbalife (HLF) returned the most: Herbalife (HLF) +59.5%, Waldencast (MLKMF) -55.7%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) +19.4%. Over five years, Colgate Palmolive (CL) compounded fastest (Herbalife (HLF) -21.7%/yr, Waldencast (MLKMF) -38.6%/yr, Colgate Palmolive (CL) +4.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Herbalife (HLF) 0.00%, Waldencast (MLKMF) 0.00%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 0.02%. Herbalife (HLF) and Waldencast (MLKMF) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Colgate Palmolive (CL) has been the steadiest (Herbalife (HLF) 58.7%, Waldencast (MLKMF) 100.6%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 23.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, HLF, MLKMF and CL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Colgate Palmolive (CL) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.