One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$194.49 our estimate vs market $333.71
Wall Street consensus: $391.00 (101.0% higher than our fair-value estimate)
72% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
The Sherwin-Williams Company
SHW · NYQ · Basic Materials · Specialty Chemicals
Current price
$333.71
52-week range
$289.86 - $377.77
Market cap
$81.01B
Balance sheet
Distressed
8.16x Adequate
Net debt $14.74B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
1 Risk
3 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 3.5% last year.
- Reward Returns 65.1% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 3.5% over 3 years.
What this company does
The Sherwin-Williams Company
Sherwin-Williams is a global company that makes and sells paint, stains, and coatings for everything from house walls to cars and cans. A large part of their business comes from their own network of stores that sell directly to professional painters, giving them a strong, direct relationship with their core customers. They also sell other brands you might recognize, like Valspar and Minwax, through big hardware and home improvement stores.
How the company got here
Founded in 1866 by Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams in Cleveland, Ohio, the company pioneered the first ready-mixed paint, which saved customers from having to mix the ingredients themselves. A key innovation was the patent for a resealable paint can, making their products more user-friendly. Over the next century, the company grew by creating new products like water-based interior paint and acquiring other brands, such as Dutch Boy. A major turning point was the 2017 acquisition of Valspar, which significantly expanded its reach in retail and industrial coatings worldwide.
What it actually does
Sherwin-Williams makes and sells paint, coatings, and related products like stains, sealers, and painting supplies. You would recognize their products from the paint on the walls of homes and buildings, the finish on furniture and cars, and even the protective coatings on bridges and ships. They sell their products to a wide range of customers, from professional painters and large industrial companies to everyday do-it-yourself (DIY) homeowners. The company operates its own stores and also sells its products through major retailers like home centers and hardware stores.
Paint Stores Group
This is the company's largest business, making up well over half of its sales. It operates thousands of Sherwin-Williams branded stores across the Americas that sell paint, stains, and supplies directly to customers. The main customers for this segment are professional painting contractors who rely on the stores for consistent product quality and expert service. This direct-to-customer model allows the company to build strong relationships with professionals and control how its flagship brand is sold.
Consumer Brands Group
This part of the company focuses on the do-it-yourself (DIY) customer and sells a wide variety of well-known brands like Valspar, Dutch Boy, Minwax, and Krylon. Instead of selling through its own stores, this group supplies its products to big-box retailers, home centers, and hardware stores where everyday shoppers buy their paint and supplies. This segment represents a smaller portion of the company's total revenue (the money it brings in from sales) but is responsible for many of the brands you'd see on the shelf at a local store.
Performance Coatings Group
This segment creates and sells highly specialized coatings for industrial and commercial use, making up a significant chunk of the company's business. These aren't house paints, but rather engineered finishes for things like cars, airplanes, wood furniture, beverage cans, and even marine equipment to protect it from the harsh ocean environment. Customers are typically large manufacturing companies and other businesses in over 120 countries who need coatings that meet very specific performance requirements.
What management is betting on now
The company's strategy focuses on gaining more business from professional contractors and driving growth through product innovation, like developing more eco-friendly and durable coatings. They are also concentrating on managing their supply chain (the entire process of making and delivering a product) efficiently to control costs. Another key priority is sustainability, which involves creating environmentally responsible products and running their operations in a way that minimizes their impact on the planet. These efforts are designed to increase their market share and deliver value to both customers and shareholders (the owners of the company).
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$839.40M
FY2024 Q4
$634.50M
FY2025 Q1
$-250.40M
FY2025 Q2
$931.10M
FY2025 Q3
$1.11B
FY2025 Q4
$862.10M
FY2026 Q1
$800.00K
FY2026 Q2
$1.24B
Revenue
$6.79B
Net income
$843.60M
Diluted EPS
3.43
Operating cash flow
$1.35B
Free cash flow
$1.24B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$5.67B
Net income
$534.70M
Diluted EPS
2.15
Operating cash flow
$139.10M
Free cash flow
$800.00K
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$5.60B
Net income
$476.80M
Diluted EPS
1.91
Operating cash flow
$1.09B
Free cash flow
$862.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.36B
Net income
$833.10M
Diluted EPS
3.35
Operating cash flow
$1.31B
Free cash flow
$1.11B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.31B
Net income
$754.70M
Diluted EPS
3.00
Operating cash flow
$1.11B
Free cash flow
$931.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$5.31B
Net income
$503.90M
Diluted EPS
2.00
Operating cash flow
$-61.10M
Free cash flow
$-250.40M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$5.30B
Net income
$480.10M
Diluted EPS
1.90
Operating cash flow
$934.50M
Free cash flow
$634.50M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.16B
Net income
$806.20M
Diluted EPS
3.18
Operating cash flow
$1.07B
Free cash flow
$839.40M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $194.49 vs current price $333.71
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $391.00 (101.0% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $194.49 a share — about 41.7% below today's price of $333.71, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $14.7B. Interest coverage 8.2x.
Net debt
$14.74B
Interest coverage
8.16x
The Sherwin-Williams Company's profit covers its interest bill about 8.2 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
SHW
BASELINE
The Sherwin-Williams Company
Total debt $15.03B Interest coverage 8.16x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $7.47B Interest coverage 9.00x +10% vs SHW Has roughly the same debt cushion as SHW.
Total debt $2.95B Interest coverage 8.66x +6% vs SHW Has roughly the same debt cushion as SHW.
Total debt $3.07B Interest coverage 4.18x -49% vs SHW Carries about 2.0x less debt cushion than SHW.
Total debt $2.21B Interest coverage 2.83x -65% vs SHW Carries about 2.9x less debt cushion than SHW.
Total debt $3.18B Interest coverage 2.75x -66% vs SHW Carries about 3.0x less debt cushion than SHW.
What you should know
The case for and against SHW
3 Rewards
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 3.5% last year.
-
Returns 65.1% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 3.5% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
30.76x
Forward P/E
24.51x
P/B
20.89x
P/S
3.32x
EV/EBITDA
20.23x
PEG ratio
2.14x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
49.0%
Operating margin
18.1%
Net margin
11.0%
ROE
65.1%
ROA
9.5%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
3.90x
Current ratio
0.73x
Quick ratio
0.41x
Total debt
$15.03B
Total cash
$293.50M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$24.41B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
4.3%
EPS TTM
10.85
EPS 5Y CAGR
9.9%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$3.89B
Free CF TTM
$2.65B
FCF margin
10.9%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.0%
Payout ratio
29.3%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-21