July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Colgate-Palmolive Co., the world’s largest maker of toothpaste, posted second-quarter sales that missed some analysts’ estimates on lower-than-expected demand in Asia, Europe and in the Hill’s dog-food unit. The stock dropped.

Sales fell 5.5 percent to $3.75 billion, hurt by the effects of currency translations, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Analysts predicted $3.80 billion, the average of 11 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

The number of units sold by Hill’s slumped 12 percent, compared with a 4 percent gain estimated by Connie Maneaty, a BMO Capital Markets analyst who rates the stock “market perform.” Volume dropped 3 percent in Europe and South Pacific, and fell 1.5 percent in the Greater Asia and Africa unit. Maneaty predicted gains of 0.5 percent and 5 percent. Those three divisions account for 52 percent of Colgate’s sales.

Colgate fell $4.02, or 5.3 percent, to $71.83 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest one- day drop since Dec. 1. The shares have risen 4.8 percent this year.

Net income rose 14 percent to $561.6 million, or $1.07 a share, from $493.8 million, or 92 cents, a year earlier, after Colgate increased prices and cut advertising. The maker of Palmolive dish detergent and Speed Stick deodorant was projected to earn $1.05 a share, according to fourteen analysts.

The stronger dollar shaved 18 percent from sales in Latin America and 16 percent in Europe and the South Pacific. About 80 percent of revenue comes from outside North America.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carol Wolf in Washington cwolf@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 30, 2009 16:49 EDT