PPG Industries, Inc. PPG delivered adjusted earnings of $1.83 per share in the first quarter of 2026, up 6.4% year over year and in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Revenues came in at $3.93 billion, up 6.7% from the year-ago quarter and ahead of the consensus mark of $3.84 billion by 2.4%.
Results benefited from higher selling prices and a sizable foreign currency translation lift, while organic sales increased 1% year over year. The company is witnessing rising costs of raw materials, energy, logistics and packaging across the coatings value chain, making incremental selling price realization a priority as it works to offset rising input costs more quickly than in prior inflation cycles. The company also pointed to global sourcing flexibility and cost reduction efforts, including technology and AI-enabled optimization, as levers to help protect price-cost recovery.
PPG Industries, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
PPG Industries, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | PPG Industries, Inc. Quote
PPG’s Segment Review
Global Architectural Coatings’ net sales increased 12.6% year over year to $965 million. The figure beat our estimate of $885 million. Segment EBITDA margin expanded to 19.1% from 16.8%, reflecting higher selling prices and cost-control actions.
Management cited strength in Latin America and the Asia Pacific, led by Mexico. Retail sales were especially strong, and project-related sales continued to recover, while architectural coatings demand in EMEA remained mixed by country.
Performance Coatings sales rose 5.5% year over year to $1,334 million. The figure topped our estimate of $1,265 million. Segment EBITDA margin edged up to 24.4% from 24.3%, supported by higher selling prices, currency benefits and contributions from acquisitions.
Within the segment, aerospace delivered an exceptional performance with double-digit organic sales growth and ended the quarter with an order backlog of about $315 million. Protective and marine coatings also advanced, including continued above-market marine volume growth in the Asia Pacific, while automotive refinish declined sharply due to a difficult comparison tied to distributor ordering patterns in the first half of 2025.
Industrial Coatings net sales increased 4.4% year over year to $1,631 million, driven primarily by foreign currency translation. The figure beat our estimate of $1,554 million. Segment EBITDA margin declined to 15% from 16.8% as regional mix and lower selling prices weighed on profitability.
Organic sales in the segment were flat, with a 1% volume gain from share wins offset by lower pricing in certain index-based customer contracts. Packaging coatings stood out, with double-digit organic sales growth and volumes up more than 20% on a two-year stacked basis as customers adopted PPG’s technologies.
PPG's Financials
At the quarter end, PPG had cash and cash equivalents totaling $1,573 million. Long-term debt was $6,407 million, up $833 million from the first quarter of 2025.
Cash from operating activities was $33 million, about $50 million higher year over year. Capital deployment remained shareholder-focused, with share repurchases totaling about $100 million in the quarter.
PPG Outlook Reaffirmed
PPG expects second-quarter organic sales and adjusted earnings per share to range from flat to low single-digit growth year over year. Management reaffirmed its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings guidance range of $7.70 to $8.10 per share.
The outlook assumes continued momentum from share gains and self-help actions, alongside an updated view of global economic activity, foreign exchange rates and regional mix. Management highlighted growth opportunities in aerospace, architectural coatings in Latin America, protective and marine coatings and packaging coatings, while anticipating an improvement in automotive refinish in the back half of the year, tied to customer order phasing.
For the rest of 2026, the company expects mid-single-digit cost of goods sold inflation, translating to an estimated $240 million to $300 million incremental EBITDA headwind. To counter that pressure, management expects pricing to contribute $230 million to $270 million of incremental EBITDA in 2026.
PPG’s Price Performance
Shares of PPG have lost 1% in the past year compared with the industry’s 8.6% rise.
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PPG’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks
PPG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF, Compass Minerals International, Inc. CMP and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. APD.
CF Industries is slated to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 6. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $2.35 per share, indicating 27.03% year-over-year growth. CF sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Compass Mineral is slated to report second-quarter fiscal 2026 results on May 6. The consensus estimate for CMP’s earnings per share is pegged at 66 cents. CMP presently carries a Zacks Rank #1.
Air Products is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2026 results on April 30. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APD’s second-quarter earnings per share is pegged at $3.05, indicating 13.38% year-over-year growth. APD carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).