MW Sherwin-Williams' sales fall short of estimates in choppy market, sending stock lower

By Ciara Linnane

Paints giant offers soft guidance for the first quarter and all of 2025

Sherwin-Williams Co.'s stock $(SHW)$ fell 2.4% early Thursday, after the paints company's fourth-quarter sales fell short of estimates, offsetting a profit beat, and it offered soft guidance for 2025.

Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams, which joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average in November, had net income of $480.1 million, or $1.90 a share, for the quarter, up from $356.2 million, or $1.39 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted for one-time items, EPS came to $2.09, ahead of the $2.06 FactSet consensus.

Sales rose to $5.297 billion from $5.252 billion a year ago, but were below the $5.319 billion FactSet consensus.

Chief Executive Heidi G. Petz said the number was hit by "continued demand choppiness" in most of the company's end markets.

"In our architectural business, residential repaint significantly outgrew the market and increased by a high-single-digit percentage as we continued to see a return on prior growth investments," she said in prepared remarks.

New residential benefited from above-market growth, while sales at the industrial businesses were led by double-digit percentage growth in packaging and low-single-digit percentage growth in coil.

The company is now expecting first-quarter sales to be up or down by a low-single-digit percent, while FactSet is expecting a 2% gain.

For the full year, it expects sales to rise in the low-single digits and for adjusted EPS to range from $11.65 to $12.05. The FactSet consensus is for sales to grow 3% and for EPS of $12.56.

The stock has gained 17% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 22.6%.

-Ciara Linnane

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January 30, 2025 07:54 ET (12:54 GMT)

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