The Sherwin-Williams Company SHW reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.70 per share, up 9.5% year over year. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.56 by 3.9%.
Revenues increased 7.5% year over year to $6.79 billion and beat the consensus mark of $6.62 billion by 2.6%. Growth across all three reportable segments, including contributions from the Suvinil acquisition, supported results.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased to $2.10 billion from $2.01 billion. As a percentage of sales, SG&A expenses improved to 31% from 31.9%. Higher employee-related costs, expenses related to Suvinil acquisition and costs associated with the company’s new headquarters and technology center affected the quarter.
The Sherwin-Williams Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
The Sherwin-Williams Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Sherwin-Williams Company Quote
Segmental Review
Paint Stores Group sales increased 5.1% year over year to $3.89 billion. The improvement reflected mid-single-digit selling price increases and low-single-digit volume growth. Paint Stores Group same-store sales rose 4.2%.Sales rose across all professional customer markets, led by double-digit growth in protective and marine, high-single-digit growth in commercial and mid-single-digit growth in residential repaint.Paint Stores Group profit rose 4.5% to $957.6 million from $916.5 million.
Consumer Brands Group sales jumped 21.5% to $983.5 million from $809.4 million. Growth was driven primarily by the Suvinil acquisition, increased sales in North America and a 1.6% favorable foreign currency translation impact. Consumer Brands Group profit climbed 29.7% to $212.9 million. The increase reflected higher sales, favorable product mix, supply-chain efficiencies and currency transaction benefits, partly offset by raw material inflation and incremental Suvinil-related SG&A costs. Reported margin improved to 21.6% from 20.3%.
Performance Coatings Group sales advanced 6.3% to $1.91 billion. Low-single-digit gains in price and volume, along with a 2% favorable currency translation impact, aided results. General Industrial and Automotive Refinish recorded high-single-digit growth, while Packaging, Industrial Wood and Coil posted mid-single-digit gains. Performance Coatings Group profit increased 11.5% to $273.3 million. Higher sales more than offset raw material and employee-related cost increases. Reported segment margin expanded to 14.3% from 13.6%.
Sherwin-Williams Cash Returns & Balance Sheet
Sherwin-Williams generated $1.49 billion in net operating cash flow during the first six months of 2026. The company returned $2.23 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchases of 5.6 million common shares.
As of June 30, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were $293.5 million. Short-term borrowings totaled $2.25 billion, while long-term debt was $8.33 billion. The company had authorization to repurchase 24 million shares remaining through open-market transactions.
SHW’s Q3 & 2026 Outlook
For the third quarter of 2026, Sherwin-Williams expects consolidated net sales to increase by a mid to high-single-digit percentage year over year. Management expects demand softness to continue during the second half based on customer sentiment and the leading indicators it monitors.
For full-year 2026, the company raised its net sales growth forecast in the mid- to high-single-digit range. It also increased reported earnings guidance to $10.92-$11.32 per share from $10.70-$11.10.
Adjusted earnings are projected at $11.80-$12.20 per share, up from the prior guidance of $11.50-$11.90.
SHW’s Price Performance
Shares of Sherwin-Williams have lost 2.8% over the past year against the industry’s 2.8% growth.
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SHW’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
SHW currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Some other top-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS, Kronos Worldwide, Inc. KRO and Avient Corporation AVNT.
Carpenter Technology is slated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on July 30. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $10.58 per share, indicating a 41.44% year-over-year improvement. CRS sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Kronos is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 5. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KRO’s second-quarter loss per share is pegged at 33 cents, indicating a 65.63% year-over-year growth. KRO flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 at present.
Avient is slated to report second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 6. The consensus estimate for AVNT’s earnings per share is pegged at $3.08. AVNT presently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).