By Rob Curran

Sherwin-Williams posted higher fourth-quarter net income and sales as higher prices at its retail locations offset some weakness in wholesale operations.

The paint giant also forecast growth for 2025.

The Cleveland-based company logged fourth-quarter earnings of $480.1 million, or $1.90 a share, up from $356.2 million, or $1.39 a share, a year earlier. Stripping out certain one-off items, Sherwin posted adjusted earnings of $2.09 a share, topping the average Wall Street estimate of $2.06 a share, as tallied by FactSet.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 0.9% to $5.3 billion, just shy of the mean analyst target of $5.32 billion.

Sales at the company's chain of paint stores rose 3.4% to $3.04 billion, boosted by price increases. Same-store sales, or sales in stores open a year or more, rose 2%.

Sales at Sherwin's consumer-brands unit fell 4.3% to $662.2 million. Sales at the performance-coating unit fell 1.6% to $1.59 billion.

For the first quarter, Sherwin-Williams expects sales at worst to contract by low percentage digits, or at best to grow by low-percentage-digits.

For 2025, Sherwin targeted earnings in a range between $10.70 a share and $11.10 a share, up significantly from $10.55 a share for 2024. On an adjusted basis, the paint maker forecast full-year earnings of $11.65 to $12.05 a share.

Activity in the U.S. housing market has stalled due to elevated mortgage rates, and that has slowed sales of some home-improvement items. Home sellers and buyers are no longer preparing houses for sale or move-in. At the same time, demand remains strong for affordable home-maintenance supplies.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2025 07:34 ET (12:34 GMT)

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