Sherwin-Williams raises profit forecast, expects higher prices to drive growth (updated)

Sherwin-Williams

28/07/2026 16:34

Updates shares; adds comments from conference call
By Vallari Srivastava
July 28 (Reuters) - Sherwin-Williams SHW.N raised its annual profit forecast on Tuesday, betting on gains from price hikes even as the paintmaker grapples with muted demand across most end-markets, sending its shares up over 7%.
Supply chain disruptions caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, now in its fifth month, have pushed up costs for raw materials, energy and logistics, prompting paintmakers, which were already facing weak demand, to raise product prices to protect their margins. 

Here are more details:
CEO Heidi Petz said the company would increase prices at its Paint Stores Group segment by 8%, effective September 1, in response to inflation across raw materials, energy, logistics and packaging.
Sherwin-Williams was not worried about raw material availability, Petz said on a call with analysts, but it does expect "inflation in its raw material basket to be up in the high-single-digit range in the second half of the year."
"Our updated outlook assumes there is not a broad-based demand recovery," Petz said, adding that customer feedback indicated there are limited signs of meaningful improvement in most end markets.
Sherwin-Williams now expects 2026 adjusted profit per share of $11.80 to $12.20, compared with its prior forecast of $11.50 to $11.90.
It also forecast net sales growth in the mid-to-high single-digit percentage range in 2026, compared with its earlier expectations of low-to-mid single-digit growth.
Analysts expect Sherwin-Williams to report 2026 profit of $11.76 per share, on net sales of $24.71 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
One of the world's largest coating companies, Sherwin-Williams walked away from a joint bid to acquire rival AkzoNobel in June as Petz said there were "more attractive uses of our shareholders' cash."
In the second quarter, Sherwin-Williams benefited from the impact of price hikes, which helped boost net sales by 7.5% to $6.79 billion.
The Ohio-based company posted an adjusted profit of $3.70 per share for the second quarter, beating expectations of $3.52.

 (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shreya Biswas)
 ((Srivastava.Vallari@thomsonreuters.com;))