Church & Dwight eked out growth and quietly cut its cash pile.

The headline numbers look tidy: revenue up 1.6%, gross margin up about 240 basis points to 45.4%, and diluted EPS up 9% to $0.85 after the share count fell 3.3%. Those improvements came while the company’s reported cash balance plunged from $923.2M to $254.8M, a 72% drop.

"In the current year, the increase was impacted by higher sales volumes, including the Touchland and Miss Mouth's acquisitions of $38.8, the benefit of productivity programs of $38.6, favorable price/mix of $14.3 and lower marketing expenses of $0.7, partially offset by inflation, including Middle East conflict-related commodity and transportation costs of $85.7 and higher SG&A expenses of $52.9 reflecting acquisition-related costs from Touchland and Miss Mouth's."

> Church & Dwight / 10-Q / 2026-07-31

That sentence is the filing’s roadmap. Growth and margin gains came from a mix of acquisition contributions, productivity programs, and some favorable price/mix. At the same time the company calls out inflation, higher logistics and commodity costs tied to geopolitical friction, and acquisition-related SG&A.

A second filing detail highlights the odd cash picture.

"Our net cash provided by operating activities in the six months ended June 30, 2026 increased by $45.1 to $461.6 as compared to $416.5 in the same period in 2025 due to a decrease in working capital and an increase in cash earnings (net income adjusted for non-cash items)."

> Church & Dwight / 10-Q / 2026-07-31

Operating cash flow for the six months actually improved to $461.6M, so the collapse in the period-end cash balance isn’t coming from weak operations. The filing shows several competing cash uses: acquisitions (Touchland and Miss Mouth's are named), capex that rose 58.5% year over year, and a smaller share count (246.4M to 238.2M). The company does not lay out a single-line cause for the ending cash decline beyond those reported uses.

The stakes are straightforward. Church & Dwight’s income statement looks healthier, gross profit rose 7.2% and operating income rose 5.6%, but the balance sheet picture is tighter. The filing lists net debt at $1.8B and a market cap of $24.2B, so the business is net-levered and now holds materially less liquidity on hand.

Management also flagged a softer valuation for a trade name at its last impairment test, down to 117% of carrying value from 135% the prior year, a reminder that brands in some categories are under pressure even while some product lines gain volume.

For readers tracking the next clear data point, Church & Dwight’s next 10-Q will be the place to check whether the cash balance stabilizes after the recent wave of acquisitions, higher capex, and buybacks, or if the company continues to run the cash down.

You can call this a quarter of tidy P&L upgrades and deliberate cash deployment; the awkward bit is how much cash that tidy upgrade consumed.

Figures from Church & Dwight 10-Q filed 2026-07-31.