Sherwin-Williams Warns on Q4

We got a Buy List earnings warning this morning. Sherwin-Williams (SHW) said their Q4 earnings won’t be so hot. They had been expecting a sales increase in the mid-single digits. Now they say it will be 2%.

Sherwin now expects full-year earnings of $18.53 per share (that excludes merger-related costs). That’s below their previous guidance of $19.05 to $19.20 per share.

Commenting on the preliminary results, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer John G. Morikis said, “Our performance in the fourth quarter was disappointing across the board relative to our outlook back in October. Consolidated revenue growth for the fourth quarter fell well short of our previous expectation, due in large part to weak sales growth by our North American stores in October and November. Store sales rebounded somewhat in December, but not enough to bring in the quarter. Sales for our Consumer Brands and Performance Coatings Groups also fell short of expectations. The revenue shortfall was the primary driver of the significant earnings per share miss in the quarter. Given the lower preliminary results for our fourth quarter, our full year preliminary adjusted net income per share is $18.53 per share, or about 3% below the midpoint of our previous guidance range. This full year 2018 adjusted earnings per share is an increase of approximately 23% over full year 2017 on a comparable basis.”

At a quarterly rate, Sherwin now expects Q4 EPS of $3.55 which is down from the earlier forecast of $4.07 to $4.22. Shares of SHW are down about 5% this morning.

Earnings are due out on January 31.

Posted by on January 15th, 2019 at 9:37 am


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