The Sherwin-Williams Company · SHW · FY2026 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026

SHW Q1 2026: Sales Beat, Margins Expand, but Raw-Material Costs Loom

Sherwin-Williams delivered a first-quarter beat, driven by share-gain initiatives across all three reportable segments and disciplined pricing. Gross margin expanded for the 14th time in 15 quarters despite modest dilution from the Suvenil acquisition. Management maintained full-year guidance even while raising raw-material inflation expectations to low-mid single digits, betting that surgical pricing and cost discipline can absorb the impact. The balance between a credible beat-and-maintain trajectory and mounting cost headwinds from propylene and broader commodity inflation defines the investment debate.

Reported Before market openNYSEBasic Materials $87.38B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $2.35 Consensus $2.27
EPS surprise +3.5% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $5.67B Consensus $5.56B
Revenue surprise +1.9% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move -3.5% Event window
SPY move -0.5% Same window
Abnormal move -3.0% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.5× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift -4.4% Up to 20 sessions
SHWSPY benchmark

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What changed

Versus the prior quarter, Sherwin-Williams shifted from a record-setting full-year performance to a start-of-year beat that carried new cost pressure. The raw-material inflation outlook moved from low-single-digit to low-mid-single-digit, with propylene specifically forecast up roughly 50% for the remainder of 2026. The Suvenil acquisition, previously flagged as a growth contributor, was disclosed as mildly dilutive to gross margin in Q1. Volume guidance was lowered to a low-single-digit decline. New product innovation advanced with the launch of Emerald Symmetry, a zero-VOC plant-based interior coating.

Guidance delta

Full-year 2026 guidance for sales, earnings, and SG&A was maintained, unchanged from the prior quarter despite higher raw-material cost expectations. Management characterized this as achievable through surgical pricing and cost-out initiatives. The select commodity inflation qualifier from prior guidance language was removed. Volume guidance was adjusted to a low-single-digit decline.

Key takeaways

  • Q1 sales beat expectations, driven by share-gain initiatives across all three reportable segments.
  • Gross margin expanded 90 bps, the 14th margin expansion in the last 15 quarters.
  • Full-year guidance for sales, earnings, and SG&A remains unchanged despite higher raw-material cost expectations.
  • Aggressive store-network strategy: 21 new stores opened, 27 closed, with 80-100 net new stores planned for 2026.
  • Robust cash generation funded $773 million in share buybacks and dividends, keeping net debt/EBITDA at 2.5x.

Management priorities

  • Open 80-100 new Paint Stores Group locations in 2026.
  • Continue aggressive share-gain strategy through new accounts and pricing actions.
  • Invest in the new global headquarters and technology center, with a presentation planned for September.
  • Expand strategic supplier relationships to mitigate raw-material volatility.
  • Roll out additional cost-out initiatives and maintain disciplined capital allocation.

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
SHW REVENUE earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 3 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $5B Q4 '23 actual $5B, beat Q1 '24 estimate $5B Q1 '24 actual $5B, miss Q2 '24 estimate $6B Q2 '24 actual $6B, miss Q3 '24 estimate $6B Q3 '24 actual $6B, miss Q2 '25 estimate $6B Q2 '25 actual $6B, beat Q3 '25 estimate $6B Q3 '25 actual $6B, beat Q4 '25 estimate $6B Q4 '25 actual $6B, beat Q1 '26 estimate $6B Q1 '26 actual $6B, beat Q2 '26 estimate $7B Q2 '26 actual $7B, beat Q3 '26 estimate $7B Q4 '26 estimate $6B Q1 '27 estimate $6B
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy36 ratings
Bullish2158.3%
Neutral1438.9%
Bearish12.8%

1 unmapped firm rating excluded from the percentages.

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$335.2Current
$260Low
$367.3Average
$420High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 17, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
RBC Capital Outperform OutperformMaintainOct 9, 2026
UBS Neutral NeutralMaintainOct 5, 2026
Wells Fargo Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainSep 25, 2026
Morgan Stanley Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 29, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 29, 2026
Show 32 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $335.2. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$348$320.21 +3.8%Oct 12, 2026
RBC CapitalArun Viswanathan$392$318.54 +16.9%Oct 9, 2026
Melius ResearchMichael Rehaut$367$318.46 +9.5%Oct 6, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$363$319.51 +8.3%Oct 5, 2026
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$340$320.4 +1.4%Sep 25, 2026
See 77 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

The Sherwin-Williams Company engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of paint, coatings, and related products to professional, industrial, commercial and retail customers. The company operates through three segments: Paint Stores Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group. The Paint Stores Group segment offers architectural paint and coatings; protective and marine products; and OEM product finishes and related products for architectural and industrial paint contractors, and do-it-yourself homeowners under the Sherwin-Williams brand.…

Historical context

All SHW earnings

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Latest beats and misses

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-29T09:31:57.753565+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-29T09:31:57.750846+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-07-29. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.