Sherwin Williams Co (SHW) · Oct 27, 2026 · Earnings
Miss — Adjusted EPS $3.63 vs published consensus around $3.69
Sherwin-Williams earnings beat revenue expectations but missed adjusted EPS, with Suvinil-driven sales masking weaker Consumer Brands margins.
Sherwin-Williams is growing through pricing, share gains and the Suvinil acquisition while its core paint and coatings markets remain soft; management had already warned that demand was likely to stay muted into 2027.
The quarter beat on sales but missed on adjusted earnings. Revenue rose 7.9% to $6.86 billion, ahead of the published consensus of roughly $6.78 billion, but adjusted diluted EPS of $3.63 came in below consensus near $3.69. The message is that pricing and acquisition-related revenue are holding up better than profitability: gross margin fell to 47.8% from 49.2%, while pretax margin declined to 15.5% from 16.7% (Income Statement). Diluted net income per share was $3.38, compared with $3.35 a year ago.
| Metric | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 / expectation | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales | $6.86B | $6.36B / ~$6.78B consensus | Above expectation (Income Statement) |
| Adjusted diluted EPS | $3.63 | $3.59 / ~$3.69 consensus | Below expectation (EPS reconciliation) |
| Gross margin | 47.8% | 49.2% | Down 140 bps (Income Statement) |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $1.40B | $1.36B | Up 3.3% (EBITDA reconciliation) |
| FY2026 adjusted EPS guidance | $11.85-$12.15 | Prior $11.80-$12.20 | Same midpoint, narrower range (Guidance) |
The weakness is concentrated in Consumer Brands, not the entire portfolio. Consumer Brands revenue jumped 21.7%, largely because of Suvinil, but reported segment profit fell 7.1% and adjusted profit fell 4.4%; adjusted margin dropped to 18.3% from 23.3% (Segment results — Consumer Brands). The filing attributes the pressure to raw-material and supply-chain costs, added Suvinil SG&A, foreign-exchange effects and soft North American demand. 〔0〕
The core operating groups are still producing incremental profit, but not with clean margin expansion. Paint Stores sales rose 4.7% and profit 2.1%, while Performance Coatings sales rose 8.8% and profit 6.2%; both groups reported lower margins than a year earlier (Segment results — Paint Stores Group; Segment results — Performance Coatings Group). That supports the company’s share-gain and pricing narrative, but the quarter shows those gains are being absorbed by input costs, mix and higher interest expense rather than flowing fully to earnings. 〔1〕
Guidance is maintained, but the quality of the outlook is less robust than the headline suggests. Full-year sales guidance was maintained at mid- to high-single-digit growth, and the adjusted EPS range was narrowed around the same $12.00 midpoint; the high end of reported EPS guidance fell from $11.32 to $11.22 (Guidance). Management also explicitly expects muted demand through year-end and into 2027. 〔2〕
Bottom line: This is a revenue beat with an earnings miss, caused by margin pressure rather than collapsing demand. The broader strategy remains intact, but Suvinil is currently adding more sales than profit and the filing does not improve the near-term margin story.
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