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F500-2021-162-Sherwin-Williams

The paint and coating company began selling ready-mixed paint in 1875. First quarter 2021 net sales were up 8.6% year over year in the Americas Group, largely thanks to a do-it-yourself home renovation craze brought on by the COVID pandemic.

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F500-2020-180-Sherwin-Williams

The paint company develops and manufactures paints and related products and distributes them to consumers and companies.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

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Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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Sherwin-Williams manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and related products for residential, commercial, and industrial use. The company operates through a network of company-operated stores and facilities, serving both professional contractors and do-it-yourself consumers. Its product offerings include interior and exterior paints, stains, and protective coatings. Sherwin-Williams also supplies coatings to original equipment manufacturers and industrial markets.

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Q2 2025

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Sherwin-Williams (SHW): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Sherwin-Williams

sherwin-williams

Good morning. Thank you for joining The Sherwin-Williams Company’s review of fourth quarter and full year 2025 results and our outlook for the first quarter and full year of 2026. With us on today’s call are Heidi Petz, Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Ben Meisenzahl, Chief Financial Officer, Paul Lang, Chief Accounting Officer, and Jim Jaye, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications. This conference call is being webcast simultaneously in listen-only mode by Access Newswire via the Internet at www.sherwin.com. An archive replay of this webcast will be available at www.sherwin.com beginning approximately two hours after this conference call concludes. This conference call will include certain forward-looking statements as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities laws with respect to sales, earnings, and other matters.

Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. A full declaration regarding forward-looking statements is provided in the company's earnings release transmitted earlier this morning. After the company's prepared remarks, we will open the session to questions. I will now turn the call over to Jim Jaye.

Thank you, and good morning to everyone. Sherwin-Williams ended the year with strong fourth quarter results, driven by solid core performance and inclusive of the first full quarter of the Suvinil acquisition. Consolidated sales in the fourth quarter increased by a mid-single-digit percentage, inclusive of a low single-digit contribution from Suvinil. Reported gross margin was flattish year-over-year, but expanded, excluding the dilutive impact of the Suvinil acquisition. SG&A, as a percent of sales, decreased year-over-year, including severance and other restructuring expenses and Suvinil, reflecting our disciplined, ongoing cost control measures. Adjusted diluted net income per share in the quarter increased by 6.7%. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter grew 13.4% and expanded 100 basis points to 17.7% as a percent of sales. Free cash flow conversion in the quarter was 90.1%.

In terms of our segments in the fourth quarter, Paint Stores Group sales increased in the range we expected, led by high single-digit growth in Protective and Marine against a high single-digit comp. Residential Repaint remained solid and growth was just slightly below the mid-single-digit range and also against a high single-digit comp. Group sales included positive low single-digit price mix, partially offset by a low single-digit decrease in volume. Segment margin expanded 90 basis points to 20.8%. Consumer Brands Group sales exceeded our expectations. Sales from the Suvinil acquisition and positive low single-digit FX were partially offset by price mix and volume, both of which were down less than a percentage point. Sales in the underlying business, excluding Suvinil, were essentially flat, which was better than we expected and drove the top-line beat.

Adjusted segment margin decreased, including a negative impact from Suvinil and related transaction closing costs and purchase accounting items. Adjusted segment margin increased, excluding these impacts. Within Performance Coatings Group, sales were at the high end of expectations, led by strength in Packaging and Auto Refinish. Adjusted segment margin improved 150 basis points to 19%, driven by new business wins, as well as good control of SG&A, which was down mid-single digits. We also continued our strong cost control efforts within the administrative segment, where SG&A was down a low single-digit percentage in the quarter, including one-time restructuring costs of approximately $2 million. Excluding these restructuring costs and the non-annualized new building operating costs, administrative SG&A was down by a low teens percentage, improving on third quarter results that were down low double digits, demonstrating our continued tight management of G&A costs.

The slide deck accompanying our press release this morning provides more detail on fourth quarter segment results. Let me now turn it over to Heidi, who will provide a few full year highlights before moving on to our 2026 outlook and your questions.

Thank you, Jim, and good morning. I want to start by thanking our 65,000 global employees for their dedication and determination to deliver a solid year during one of the more challenging operating environments our company has seen. Sherwin-Williams celebrates 160 years in 2026, and it's because of our employees and our culture that we're able to deliver sustainable results through all types of cycles. Our team continues to execute our playbook while finding new ways to help our customers become more productive and more profitable. I'm proud of what our team accomplished in 2025. At this time last year, we talked about the potential for a softer for longer demand environment, and that is exactly what we saw play out as there was no meaningful improvement in demand across our end markets.

Our team refused to wait for the market and instead focused on creating opportunities and controlling what we could control. We stayed true to our strategy, made targeted investments, focused on share gains, and executed on our enterprise priorities. We continued to deliver innovative solutions for our customers, and in a disruptive, competitive environment, Sherwin-Williams stood out by being a consistent, reliable, and dependable partner. Our success by design approach resulted in our team delivering record full-year consolidated sales and record adjusted diluted earnings per share. Gross profit dollars and gross margin expanded. Adjusted EBITDA dollars and adjusted EBITDA margin also expanded. It was also another very strong year for cash generation, with net operating cash growing 9.4% to $3.5 billion, or 14.6% of sales.

This percent of sales is right in the middle of the most recent target range that we've previously announced. Free cash flow was $2.7 billion, and free cash flow conversion for the year was 59%. In terms of capital allocation, our policy remains consistent. We returned $2.5 billion to shareholders through share repurchases in our dividend, which we raised for the 47th consecutive year. We completed the acquisition of Suvinil, and we continued to make strategic CapEx investments, including our new global headquarters and Global Technology Center, which opened at the end of the year. We've been talking about these buildings for years, and we are thrilled that we are here. The move-in is going extremely well, and I'm confident that this will continue to strengthen our culture of collaboration, innovation, and winning together.

All in, we ended 2025 with a strong balance sheet and a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.3x. Looking at our reportable segments on a full year basis, Paint Stores grew sales by a low single-digit %. Protective and Marine increased by high single digits. Residential Repaint increased by mid single digits, and for the third year in a row, meaningfully outperformed the market, where existing home sales remained soft. Low single-digit growth in Commercial reflects share gains and above-market performance, as multifamily completions were down significantly during the year. Share gains are also evident in Property Maintenance and New Residential, both of which were flattish in a down market characterized by muted CapEx spending, high rates, and affordability challenges. Segment margin increased, reflecting operating leverage and solid returns on our investments.

We also added 80 net new stores and 87 net new sales territories. Consumer Brands' full-year sales grew by a low single-digit %, driven by the Suvinil acquisition, as underlying sales decreased by low single digits, resulting from soft DIY demand in North America and unfavorable FX. Adjusted segment margin decreased, including a negative impact from Suvinil, as we previously described, as well as lower production in the segment's manufacturing operations to match softer demand, resulting in lower fixed cost absorption. Performance Coatings' full-year sales varied by division and geography and were flat overall, which outpaced a very challenging industrial demand backdrop. Acquisitions added a low single-digit % in the year, and FX was a slight tailwind, but these were offset by unfavorable price mix.

Packaging grew at the high end of high single digits as we continued to win new business globally, including those complying with new non-BPA coating requirements. Auto Refinish was flat for the year, with share gains becoming more evident in the second half, where sales were up mid-single digits. Coil sales decreased by low single digits as meaningful new account wins were not enough to offset steel tariff impacts. Industrial Wood and General Industrial each decreased by low single digits, driven by soft housing and industrial markets, respectively. Adjusted segment margin remained in our high teens target range, but was impacted by unfavorable geographic mix as Europe grew by mid-single digits while other regions were down low single digits. As we close out 2025, I'm also pleased to share that we are reinstating our 401(k) matching program for eligible US employees, effective February 1st.

We'll also be restoring the matching contributions that have been paused since October 1st by the end of our first quarter. As I described last quarter, the decision to pause the company match was made after we had implemented multiple cost savings initiatives and significant restructuring actions, driven by multiyear demand and macroeconomic uncertainty. Given what we anticipated back in July, and with the prospect of additional risks materializing, we faced a difficult decision, either pursue further workforce reductions or temporarily pause the 401(k) company match. While many companies chose widespread layoffs, we chose a different path. We chose to protect jobs, retain talent, and invest in the long-term health of the organization by keeping our teams intact. We also committed to restoring the match as soon as performance allowed, just as we have done in the past. Our teams responded exactly as strong teams do.

We elevated our performance and focused on controlling what we could control, including winning new business, growing share of wallet, pricing discipline, and accelerating further cost reductions. We demonstrated what truly differentiates Sherwin-Williams. At the same time, some of the risks that we saw in July did not materialize or were less severe than expected, including the delayed realization of some tariff impacts. The combination of all these factors is enabling us to both resume and retroactively restore the match sooner than originally anticipated. Now, moving on to our 2026 guidance. The demand environment feels much like it did a year ago. The softer for longer dynamic we described again back in October remains intact. While some conditions are gradually becoming more stable, many of the indicators we track, along with cautious consumer sentiment, provide little support for any broad-based or accelerated recovery at this time.

This environment is likely to persist well into 2026. The slide deck issued with our press release lays out our key economic assumptions for 2026. I'd also like to provide you with some additional color that informs our outlook. On the architectural side of the business, Residential Repaint remains our single biggest growth opportunity, and we have and will continue to make investments to win here. Demand remains difficult to predict, with industry forecasts for existing home sales growth varying widely from slightly down to up double digits. The mortgage rate lock-in effect remains real. Harvard's LIRA Index is projecting very modest growth, and select retailers have forecasted flattish home improvement growth as a base case. Additionally, consumer sentiment remains muted. These same dynamics also signal another potentially challenging year for DIY.

We expect the new residential market to be down at least in the mid-single digit range this year, given negative single-family starts over the back half of 2025, and many forecasters' expectations for further softening in 2026. National Association of Home Builders sentiment levels were notably negative exiting 2025, and mortgage rates remain in the 6+ range. We welcome meaningful economic and policy proposals to address affordability and increase supply, though these will take time to finalize, implement, and take effect. We expect to outperform the market as we continue strengthening our home builder customer relationships. In the commercial segment, the Architectural Billings Index has continued its long run of negative readings. We do see a bright spot in multifamily starts, which were positive for most of the second half of 2025.

However, these starts won't turn to completions and painting until late this year and into 2027. We are pleased with the share gains we are making here, as demonstrated by our above-market growth over the second half of 2025, and which we expect will continue throughout 2026. Property Maintenance CapEx spending still appears to be idling in neutral, though we are well positioned to capture pent-up demand when rates moderate. We expect flattish sales as we continue to grow our account base to help offset core softness. In Protective and Marine, the project pipeline remains solid, though the timing of starts and completions remain variable. We expect this business, along with Residential Repaint, to be the best sales performers in Paint Stores Group this year.

On the industrial side, the U.S. manufacturing PMI ended at its lowest point in the year in December, after ten months of contraction. Brazil and the Eurozone PMIs are also contracting. Optimism is easing in China, and the PMI there remains below its historical average. We see a 2026 backdrop where our core business remains flat at best, but strong new account wins from last year and this year, along with positive price mix, to drive low single-digit sales growth in Performance Coatings Group. We expect modest growth in Auto Refinish, driven by share gains and price mix, with the industry remaining flattish to down, given pressure on consumers and related softness of insurance claims. In Coil, we expect flattish sales as the market remains under pressure related to steel tariffs. In Packaging, share gains and our industry-leading non-BPA coatings should drive flattish sales against a tough double-digit comparison.

Our Industrial Wood and General Industrial divisions had the strongest new account growth in the group last year. We expect these wins to drive low single-digit growth in both of these divisions, even as core demand remains very weak. In summary, for the third year in a row, the market is not going to give us much help, and for the third year in a row, we expect to outperform the market and grow sales and earnings per share. We'll continue to remain extremely aggressive, with a focus on helping existing customers grow, as well as winning new business and converting share gains. I want to be very transparent here. We're providing guidance that we believe is very realistic given this backdrop.

We are also confident that if the market is better than we're currently seeing, we would expect to outperform the guidance that we are providing to start the year. The slide deck issued with this morning's press release includes our expectations for consolidated and segment sales for the first quarter of 2026. The deck also includes our initial expectations for the full year, where consolidated sales are expected to be up a low- to mid-single-digit %, and diluted net income per share is expected to be in the range of $10.70-$11.10 per share.

Excluding acquisition-related amortization expense of approximately $0.80 per share, adjusted diluted net income per share is expected in the range of $11.50-$11.90, an increase of 2.4% at the midpoint compared to 2025's adjusted diluted net income per share of $11.43.... I'll note that at the $11.70 midpoint, earnings growth will outpace the midpoint of our core sales growth, excluding the impact of Suvinil sales. Our slide deck contains several additional data points that provide important context that I'd also like to briefly address. Any comparisons described are year-over-year. From a sales perspective, I'll remind you that the Paint Stores Group implemented a 7% price increase effective January 1st. Realization should be in the low single-digit range, given market dynamics and segment mix.

We are also implementing targeted price increases in specific areas with our other two reportable segments. We expect the market basket of raw materials to be up a low single-digit % in 2026, driven by tariffs, along with select commodities also inflating. We expect to overcome these raw material headwinds and deliver full-year gross margin expansion, given both incremental 2026 pricing and accelerated simplification efforts across our supply chain. We expect GAAP SG&A dollars to grow by a low single-digit % in 2026, inclusive of a low single-digit contribution from Suvinil. As we pointed out last quarter, interest expense will be up this year. This increase includes approximately $40 million related to the lease payments for our new global headquarters and approximately $35 million of interest related to the $1.1 billion, one year delayed draw term loan that we executed in September.

It also includes approximately $15 million in increased interest expense related to refinancing at higher rates. We expect to end the year within our current long-term target debt to EBITDA leverage ratio of 2-2.5 times. We expect to open 80-100 net new stores in the U.S. and Canada in 2026. We'll also continue adding sales reps and territories, accelerating innovation and expanding our digital capabilities. Next month, at our Board of Directors meeting, we will recommend an annual dividend increase of 1.3% to $3.20 per share, up from $3.16 last year. If approved, this will mark the 48th consecutive year we've increased our dividend. We expect to continue making opportunistic share repurchases. We'll also continue to evaluate acquisitions that fit and accelerate our strategy.

In addition, our slide deck provides guidance on our expectations for currency exchange, effective tax rate, CapEx, depreciation, and amortization. Finally, I'll remind you that as our first quarter is a seasonally smaller one, we do not plan to make any updates to full year guidance up or down until our second quarter is completed, at which point we will have a better view of how the paint and coatings season is unfolding. Sherwin-Williams is extremely well-positioned as we enter 2026. Again, while we expect little, if any, help in terms of end market demand, our teams refuse to be discouraged by these near-term trends. We know stronger demand will return at some point, driven by powerful demographics and enduring market fundamentals. But we're not waiting for that moment. We're focused on winning today and securing our long-term future.

We know the playbook, stay true to our proven customer-first strategy, control what we can control, and turn volatility into opportunity. That means relentlessly pursuing new accounts and share of wallet, innovating in and out of the can, investing where returns are clear, maintaining price-cost discipline, advancing our enterprise priorities, and driving accountability to ensure flawless execution. This is how we grow and create value, regardless of market cycles. We're proud of what we've accomplished, but we're even more energized by the opportunities ahead. Across every business, we see room to grow, innovate, and lead. Our focus remains sharp, grow sales, drive returns on sales and assets, and generate cash. We'll continue to deliver unique solutions for customers and outperform the market. This is a great time to continue demonstrating what makes Sherwin-Williams so unique. We win when our customers win, and that is exactly what we plan to do.

I'd like to end where I started by thanking our team for being truly the best in the industry. This concludes our prepared remarks, and with that, I'd like to thank you for joining us this morning, and we'll be happy to take your questions.

Certainly. Everyone at this time will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone at this time. We do ask that while posing your question, please pick up your handset if you're listening on speakerphone, to provide optimum sound quality. We do ask that participants please ask one question. Once again, if you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone. Our first question is coming from Ghansham Panjabi from Baird. Your line is live.

Yeah. Thanks, operator. Good morning, everybody. I guess first off, on the, you know, Performance Coatings segment, the margin outperformance there relative to at least our expectations, the incremental seemed very, very high in 4Q, and I know you called out some of the more profitable businesses like Packaging and Auto Refinish being up nicely, et cetera. But can you just give us a bit more color in terms of what drove that?

Yeah, Ghansham, good morning. I think what you're seeing there clearly is discipline on display. This is an organization led under Karl Jorgenrud, been in the industry for over 30 years, and I think this is an environment where we're in the fifth straight year of a challenging demand environment. The team stood tall and delivered, and you're gonna see this play out... a very clear, aggressive focus on new business wins, taking market share, but also a lot of heavy lifting in, we talk about simplification in our enterprise priorities, taking complexity out of the business. I'm very pleased with some of the heavy lifting there. Having said that, we're early innings, and I'll hand it over to Ben here to jump in.

Hey, Ghansham, Ben Meisenzahl. Yeah, adding to what Heidi said there, you know, I point to the two halves of PCG. Heidi called out simplification. SG&A has been a focus of this team here. They've consistently been able to keep their SG&A at a moderated pace, considering where volumes are at. But if I look at the two halves, I think that's a good way to look at it here. We were under pressure, the first part of the year, right after the election, and we started seeing some of the new policies take shape. There might have been some hesitation. The operating margin was backwards, about 100 basis points in the first half. The second half, adjusted operating margin showed 20 basis points worth of improvement.

The second half was at 17.9%, pretty close to where, you know, the we ended 2024. Obviously, the 19%, you know, the good pop in, in the fourth quarter. And so I, I, agree with what Heidi said there. It just comes down to discipline, focus on SG&A. I think this is also a good example. We always talk about the operating margin and not looking just at gross margin or SG&A. Here's a really good example of, of why we do that, because we're able to demonstrate and grow operating margin because of really good SG&A controls.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from John McNulty from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is live.

Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my question and maybe kind of a decent segue from that last question. On the SG&A outlook for 2026, I guess, can you help us to think about what you're factoring in, etc.—what kind of level of growth we should be expecting? 'Cause I know you continue to invest even when the markets struggle. You've also got this 401(k) match coming back in. So I guess, can you help us to think about how that should play out as the year progresses?

Hey, John. Yeah, the way to think about that, and we called out, you know, Heidi talked about in her opening comments, with reinstating the 401(k) and doing our retroactive match, we're apples to apples, 2025 versus 2024. And so that—the catch-up contribution as it relates to, to 2025 earnings, we're apples to apples there. And so because we did that, as you look 2024, 2025, and then into 2026, there is no, quarter-to-quarter, year-over-year, 401(k), impact. As you look at broader SG&A, you know, as we called out in the opening remarks, SG&A up a low single digit.

That obviously includes the history of the restructuring costs that we took in 2025, and then you layer on the incremental Suvinil, which is also a low single digit. So you can do the math there to figure out the core versus Suvinil. But really what we have, you know, embedded there is, you know, that low single digit growth. Again, that points right back to the cost controls, everything that we talked about throughout the year here. We had about $40 million in savings in 2025. You saw that our one-time restructuring costs were a little bit higher than what we guided to in October. That's gonna give us the ability to upsize the other $40 million that we initially called out.

That's probably closer to $46 million in savings in 2026. And so again, really proud of what the teams are doing to really control cost while volumes are challenged.

John, I give Ben a lot of credit. He uses this phrase of to the team, and for those employees listening, I'm talking to you here, too: We wanna earn our SG&A, right? And so we're gonna always pace that to volume, and you're gonna see that discipline play out throughout the year.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Chris Parkinson from Wolfe Research. Your line is live.

Great. Thank you so much. You know, can we talk about some of the things that, are more or less in your control in terms of your guidance and, you know, just how you, Ben, and Al are thinking about it in terms of the implied, gross margin guide? You know, just perhaps just a quick comments on healthcare labor assumptions, the raw basket. It seems like there's some divergences between solvents, acrylics, and CO2, asset utilization. Just kind of just what underpins that and what gives you the confidence that that is the correct framework, at least to begin the year? Thank you so much.

Yeah, good morning, Chris. This is Jim. I'll start with the raws piece of your question. So as you saw in our slide deck, we're guiding to our raw material basket to be up a low single-digit % this year. That includes tariffs and some of the commodities inflating. In particular, I'd say the areas where we're seeing the most pressure would be on the Packaging side of our basket, also non-TiO2 pigments, extenders, things of that nature. Also some pressure on resins, and I'd say that's a little bit heavier weighted on the industrial side of the basket. But those are the things that are driving the raw material guidance that we're laying out.

Yeah, Chris, I'll add on to the SG&A side and just the overall cost side. You think about we called out in the admin segment, interest expense, you know, being a headwind for next year. So when you look at the growth that we have in our admin spending next year, about half of that is gonna be interest expense, and then half of it is normalization of other non-operating costs and just your general SG&A. And you called out healthcare. We've all seen the headlines, healthcare up, you know, double digits. We're in that camp. We have things that we can do to mitigate that, so what we're passing on to our employees isn't as meaningful as that, so we're trying to be, you know, really diligent there.

But, you know, we've continued to try to, you know, keep that cost low. If I go back and point to some of the opening comments on the admin SG&A, you know, the core SG&A, we've been able to keep that down low double digits, you know, down low teens, and that just demonstrates again, the levers we're able to pull to make sure we can keep that the costs in check, knowing that, again, we're in that lower volume environment right now.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Greg Melich from Evercore ISI. Your line is live.

Hi, thanks. I wanted to follow up on, on price mix, in the fourth quarter, and then also the, seven percent price hike on January 1. I, I guess it looks like it was 3%-3.5% price mix in Q4. And with the price increase coming in in January, why wouldn't we expect that to be more, going into the first quarter in 2026?

Yeah, Greg, I'll start, and I'll hand this over to Ben to give a little bit more color, but I'll take you back to some of the comments I said in my prepared remarks relative to market dynamics. You know, we are looking at the competitive environment. I would frame it more as a jump ball environment, to be honest with you. So we're going to continue to be, as you would expect, extremely aggressive as it relates to chasing volume right now. So there's a balance. The team is very prepared. There's a lot of tenure in the organization. They know how to strike that right balance.

But I'm very confident that when we get our customers in, I'm very confident in the team's ability to work with them to add value and continue to you know, trade them into more premium products that ultimately is gonna make them more productive. Let me hand it to Ben to comment on the quarter.

Yeah, I agree with everything Heidi said there. And again, we've talked about that price mix, you know, looking at incremental pricing and, you know, mix of some of the business as well. And so you may have, you know, a little bit of noise in there, but Heidi hit the nail on the head with volume. I mean, we've talked about, in this environment, prioritizing volume, and so as our teams know, that high effectiveness is critical, you know, for us to get to the high end of our guide. We're gonna continue to, you know, put the pressure on there to capture as much price as we can, but we're not gonna put volume at risk to do that.

And so yeah, that may be what's a little bit different than what you've seen in the past.

But still very confident in our gross margin targets that we put out, and we're gonna hold to that.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from David Begleiter from Deutsche Bank. Your line is live.

Thank you. Good morning. Heidi, can you discuss the impact of the severe winter weather on your current demand trends? Does that mean that Q1 EPS could be down year-over-year just because of the weather impacts? Thank you.

Hey, David, it's Ben. Let me make a couple comments here. I mean, I realize right now in the midst of, you know, watching the storm go through this week, we have weather every quarter. I mean, it impacts us every year. If you remember last year, you know, we had the Gulf winter storm. It had all the classic, ice, you know, wind, snow, everything that you would expect with a winter storm like that. But our Southeast Division and our Southwestern Division, they deal with weather at this time of year, every single year, and so, no concerns there right now.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from John Roberts from Mizuho. Your line is live.

Thank you. Your packaging coatings performance is impressive here. Have we recovered to new highs since the correction you had? How much more is left in terms of the conversion of the industry?

Yeah. Good morning, John. I, I would tell you, you know, we've essentially recovered a lot of what we said was kind of temporary share loss, and but that doesn't mean that we're happy with where we are. There's still a lot more to go get. I, I really like our position here with our leading technology. We continue to win and demonstrate value. We've got some, obviously, dynamics playing out. EFSA, the European Food Safety Association's ban on BPA, that's gonna be taking effect in Q2. We know that that will continue to drive more customer conversions for us, so really like our position here. So we're, we're in good shape. Jim, maybe if you could comment on a few of those areas.

Yeah. I would add to that, John, that, you know, in terms of how much is left to go, I would say that in Asia and LATAM, there's still quite, quite a bit to go. You know, North America, and as Heidi just pointed out, Europe are farther ahead on that. But in terms of that conversion, those other regions still have quite a ways to go. Thanks for the question.

Thank you. Your next question is coming from Aleksey Yefremov from KeyBank Capital Markets. Your line is live.

Thanks. Good morning. Heidi, I wanted to come back to your comments on focusing more on volumes than price this year. I guess typically this could lead to a bit of a zero-sum game, where your competitors would also focus on volumes. Is there something that's different right now about competitive environment? Maybe your competitors cannot afford lower prices, so they have to raise their prices and cede some volume. Or is there another dynamic that kind of makes your strategy of being more volume focused the right one this year?

So, Aleksey, let me reframe what I heard you say. I think you said not putting volume above price, and I would say it's not putting volume above price. It's being very balanced in our view here. And so in this, it's a jump ball, competitive environment. There's a lot of market share up for grabs right now, and we're not going to lose our minds, lose our way. We're very disciplined when it comes to pricing, but we wanna make sure that the teams are empowered out in the front lines to convert some of these larger, bigger customers that weren't in Sherwin-Williams family before. We're gonna be dog on a bone in chasing that business.

... Aleksey, I'll add to that. You know, we've always talked about volume as the number one driver of our operating margin. And so when you look over the long term, getting that, that wider base of, of business, getting that share of wallet and the, and new accounts in, and even when we bring them in, we have ways in our stores, wherever the customer is in their, you know, their journey, to help get them up into those premium products and other ways that, that flows into that price mix as well. But we recognize over the long term, you know, that, that securing the volume, the right volume that we want, is, is how we get to our, our midterm and long-term goals.

One piece Ben just said, and I think it's really important to emphasize: when we bring our contractors in, the confidence we have in treating them up to premium is they are making more money as a result of working with these higher-end, better products. And I'll remind you, the total cost, labor comprises 85%-87% of their total cost. So their willingness to pay a premium to get on and off of job sites faster, have less touch-up, less quality issues, especially in an inflationary environment, it plays to our strengths.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Jeffrey Zekauskas from JP Morgan. Your line is live.

Thanks very much. Your Residential Repaint sales were up low single digits, but your prices were probably up higher than that. So were Residential Repaint volumes flat or down? And have they decelerated through the course of the year, and if so, why?

Hey, Jeff. If you look at the fourth quarter, we were last year, we had we were up against a really strong comp in Residential Repaint. We were up a high single digit, and so that had a little bit of impact of what you're seeing here for the third quarter. We remain very confident in Res Repaint. This is where, you know, we get, we made all a lot of investments. We're at the biggest opportunity for share gains. We're very confident with that segment, with our pricing realization. I think we're we continue to be very happy with where Res Repaint is. Obviously, as you look forward into 2026, that's a segment that we're gonna continue to count on and invest in.

This is also a segment we have a lot of confidence in because we continue year-over-year to outperform the market, and so I wouldn't characterize it, Jeff, as slowing. I think, if you go back into some of our history, last two years, there was a surge as we continued to focus on taking that Kelly-Moore share. That's now in our history and behind us, so you're probably seeing a little bit of that. But in terms of what is out there, the amount of market share to be gained is extraordinary, and we're gonna chase it.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Vincent Andrews from Morgan Stanley. Your line is live.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Wondering if you can help us bridge consumer brands from the fourth quarter performance on the top line up about 25%, with Suvinil in the mid-20s, to your expectations for 1Q and for the full year, with 1Q up low-to-mid-teens now, and the full year up high single to low doubles, recognizing that you have to comp Suvinil late in the year. But what does that imply that, you know, the existing business is gonna do from a volume price mix perspective? And then what is your FX assumption within there as well? Thank you.

Hey, Vincent. Yeah, so going from fourth quarter into next year, I mean, you nailed it. We got the annualization that's obviously gonna have a sizable impact through the third quarter of next year when we annualize. The underlying business, I mean, as Heidi talked about in her opening comments, I mean, there's still a lot of challenges with the North American DIY market. We don't expect that to be an overperformer for us until we see some of the housing catalysts really catch. You asked about, you know, pricing.

All of our businesses have some level of pricing embedded in their guide for next year, and so it even though we don't go out all at the same time like we do for Paint Stores Group, you should expect that there are some targeted price increases, not only for Consumer Brands Group, but also for Performance Coatings Group, that could differ by the different business units or by region. And then FX, you know, when you look at a full year basis, and we do have Consumer Brands Group down a low single digit because of FX. That's mainly gonna come in the second half of the year, and that's mainly coming from headwinds that we anticipate in Latin America.

And I'll mention on the Suvinil piece, because I can't help it. We're really excited about this acquisition and the progress that we're making. It's obviously early, but the teams are laser-focused. We've got a dedicated integration team so that our commercial teams can remain laser-focused on our customer and business continuity. I think that we're certainly pulling out the Valspar playbook, the rigor behind customers and employees, and making sure that we're keeping the... What's happening in the market is going to be really important here. We've got an opportunity to demonstrate why these brands are better together, why these teams are better together, so that we can drive innovation with a market-leading brand, and I'm very confident in what we're gonna be able to do in Brazil.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Josh Spector from UBS. Your line is live.

Yeah, hey, good morning. So I was trying to go through all the macro assumptions you have in that slide, which is very helpful. When I put that all together, it seems to say that maybe you're thinking the market in your Paint Stores Group is down something like 1%, maybe 2% next year. If I look at your Paint Stores Group guidance, you know, you're flat, your store addition's typically at 1%. So, to me, that implies that you're basically saying you do closer to in line with the market versus outperform by 1% or 2%. I'm just curious if you know disagree with any of that framing. Is the market lower? Are you assuming more?

Just square that with the comments you've been talking about earlier, about, you know, focus on gaining volumes and share gains. Thanks.

... Josh, respectfully, I disagree. We, the market is down, I think probably hard to characterize it, but I would say it's down more than that. And where we look at our performance base case, we've guided to down single to up single, and the controllables in that space, and I'll point to Residential Repaint, where we continue to take share in a down market. We're gonna continue to make the investments, putting a new store in every four days, continue to invest in dedicated reps. We're investing in innovation. In fact, in the end of the quarter, we're gonna be launching a zero VOC plant-based interior coating that will be the best paint we've ever made. And it's because we're that confident in our ability to convert share with Residential Repaint.

I hand over to Ben to speak to any of the other segments here.

Yeah, I mean, if I take it to, you know, talking about, you know, volume here, I think one thing to point at in Paint Stores Group is the ability, even in, you know, a challenged volume market, to still, you know, grow incremental margins. And you look at what happened in the fourth quarter, with volumes down low single digit, with through good cost control, you know, we're able to generate, you know, almost a 50% incremental margin. And if you look at, you know, the full year, I mean, it's almost 40%, again, in a volume challenged environment. And so we're gonna continue to find ways, in, you know, despite what's happening in the market, to continue to drive margin.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Mike Sisson from Wells Fargo. Your line is live.

Hey, good morning. How do you mention that you'd welcome some, you know, policies or proposals to, to, to help affordability increase supply? You know, what do you think would be helpful in terms of, you know, maybe sparking a recovery in, in paint demand this year? And then quick follow-up in Protective and Marine had another good year. Is that mostly the protective side, and does it go into data centers? And if it does, you know, how big and what's the potential there? Thank you.

Great. Well, Mike, I thought you were gonna offer up a policy recommendation, so yeah, we look at this kind of a three-legged stool, if you will. I don't know that it's gonna be one without the other. I think it's a combination of household income, rates, and affordability. And so as we come into, you know, a year of a midterm election, we'll see what moves there. But at the end of the day, our builders, our partners, are still, you know, still hesitating and waiting to see for some of those things to be solved. I think we're in an environment here where, as we partner with these, our builders, and I remind you, we've got a pretty healthy position with some of the largest builders from an exclusive standpoint.

So our ability to lock in with them, help them see around the corner and plan, is gonna be important now more than ever. I'll move on to the PNM side, and yeah, it is higher on the protective side than the marine side. And you said it right, Mike, it—this is where Sherwin-Williams is so exceptionally well positioned because of the boom we see with AI infrastructure. As you look across that PNM division and the healthy pipeline that the team is working on and what we can bring to market, these data centers, for example, if you look at every coating that every surface that needs to be coated, we've got a solution.

Our high-performance flooring, that we've just made some acquisitions in recently, puts us in market leadership position, and you're gonna see us be extremely bullish, as we move forward.

Yeah. Mike, I'll add just one more thing. I mean, going back to, you know, the first question in the politics, and Heidi laid that out well. You know, what that all means to us as it relates to our outlook, you know, if there are things that happen, if there are policies that are implemented that become tailwinds for us, the plan that we have built, you know, is gonna enable us to capture those and win from those.

So I know we outlined on slide nine of the presentation, you know, some of our economic assumptions, and so we're gonna be watching to see if there are policy adjustments that could turn some of those metrics better for us, and in turn, you should expect our performance to mirror that.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Patrick Cunningham from Citi. Your line is live.

Hi, good morning. So Heidi, throughout the past year and a half, you've talked about, you know, capitalizing on opportunities, you know, disruption in the industry. And given the recent, you know, mega-merger announcement, there's potentially some fresh disruption. So how would you characterize the opportunity set, maybe within more of your industrial-facing businesses?

Yeah, it's a great question. I think the word disruption is the right word. When you think about what's in play there, obviously there's it impacts several of our divisions. And the teams are gonna continue to be very aggressive out there. You know, but when I step back and look at the big picture over the last few years, I think it's safe to say that by and large, there's been a lot of shift across the competitive set on both architectural and industrial. And what I'm most excited about is the stability of our strategy. We've got a rock-solid strategy. We've got the playbook. We've got the management team, the team out in the field every day, clarity about how to execute that playbook.

So we mentioned earlier that there's, you know, we take volatility as an opportunity to create opportunity, whether that's in the macro or in the competitive landscape. We're gonna be just that. We're gonna continue to stay close and get closer to our customers, find new ways to solve their challenges, and we're gonna come out winning.

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Arun Viswanathan from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is live.

... Great. Thanks for taking my question. Hope you guys are well. I guess I just wanted to understand the element of potential conservatism in the guide here and maybe what, what could get you to the upper end. It sounds like, you know, you will be implementing that price increase, maybe get 2-3 points out of that. And then, you know, would it be mainly volume in Paint Stores Group? I mean, we have seen some improvement in existing home sales over the last few months. And are you kind of assuming kind of, you know, continued softness in commercial and new?

Sherwin-Williams (SHW) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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