Shareholders of water, hygiene, and energy conglomerate Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) can walk around with an added pep in their step after the company reported first-quarter 2018 earnings.Ecolab started 2018 with strong momentum across its three business segments, which prompted management to raise full-year earnings per share guidance. Adjusted EPS of $0.91 during the first three months of the year just managed to eke out an earnings beat, as Wall Street expected adjusted EPS of $0.90 on average, according to analyst opinions compiled by Yahoo!