Sherwin-Williams
SHW on NYSE. Sherwin-Williams sells paint, coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial and retail customers. Market value $77.3bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
The company doesn't report operating profit, so we work it out from pre-tax profit and interest.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
See cheaper Materials stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $4.16 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 22.2 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 20 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 85 of 100. Price score: 56 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$318.46 a share, 10% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $289.86 to $377.77.
Dividend: 1.0% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $19.9bn | $22.1bn | $23.1bn | $23.1bn | $23.6bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 15.5% | 15.3% | 18.1% | 16.7% | 16.1% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 3.95 | 3.41 | 2.65 | 2.49 | 2.41 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.26bn | 0.26bn | 0.25bn | 0.25bn | 0.24bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt2.41× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 5.1% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 6% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $6.8 billion last quarter, up 8% on a year ago.
- Profit: $844 million, up 12% on a year ago.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $3.2 billion, up from $2.2 billion.
- 2% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $11.8 billion more than cash, up from $10.4 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $6.2bn |
| December 2024 | $5.3bn |
| March 2025 | $5.3bn |
| June 2025 | $6.3bn |
| September 2025 | $6.4bn |
| December 2025 | $5.6bn |
| March 2026 | $5.7bn |
| June 2026 | $6.8bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $806m |
| December 2024 | $480m |
| March 2025 | $504m |
| June 2025 | $755m |
| September 2025 | $833m |
| December 2025 | $477m |
| March 2026 | $535m |
| June 2026 | $844m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 27 October 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 19 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 27 October 2026
Who owns it
10 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 10 last quarter. 1,739 funds in all.
- Mairs & PowerAndy Adams
- Value
- $152m
- Share of fund
- 1.4%
- Markel GroupTom Gayner
- Value
- $32m
- Share of fund
- 0.2%
- Beutel GoodmanBeutel Goodman team
- Value
- $172,000
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viking Global InvestorsAndreas Halvorsen | $1.3bn | 3.8% | Added |
| Jensen Investment ManagementEric Schoenstein | $186m | 4.5% | Cut |
| Mairs & PowerAndy Adams | $152m | 1.4% | |
| Findlay Park PartnersFindlay Park team | $38m | 0.5% | Cut |
| Markel GroupTom Gayner | $32m | 0.2% | |
| Mawer Investment ManagementMawer team | $17m | 0.1% | Cut |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $11m | <0.1% | Added |
| Torray Investment PartnersRobert Torray (founder) | $4m | 0.6% | Added |
| GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli | $3m | <0.1% | Added |
| Beutel GoodmanBeutel Goodman team | $172,000 | <0.1% |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$6.1bn
- State Street$5.4bn
- Vanguard Capital Management$5.2bn
- FMR$2.6bnAdded
- Morgan Stanley$2.3bnAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$1.9bnCut
- Geode Capital Management$1.8bn
- Norges Bank$1.4bnNew
- Viking Global Investors$1.3bnAdded
- Alliancebernstein L.P.$1.1bn
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.0%Since 31 March 2026
- STATE STREET CORPORATIONPassive investor6.3%Since 31 December 2024
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.0% | 31 March 2026 | |
STATE STREET CORPORATION Passive investor | 6.3% | 31 December 2024 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 4 sold $10m.
- Binns Justin TPresident, Glob. ArchitecturalSold
- Date
- 17 August 2026
- Shares
- 13,500
- Price
- $352.70
- Value
- $5m
- Jorgenrud Karl JPresident, Glob. IndustrialSold
- Date
- 7 August 2026
- Shares
- 7,886
- Price
- $368.30
- Value
- $3m
- Young Bryan JSVP - Corp Strategy & Devel.Sold
- Date
- 24 February 2026
- Shares
- 2,513
- Price
- $364.47
- Value
- $915,913
- Davie Colin M.Pres. & GM, Glob. Supply ChainSold
- Date
- 2 February 2026
- Shares
- 2,976
- Price
- $359.50
- Value
- $1m
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 August 2026 | Binns Justin T President, Glob. Architectural | Sold | 13,500 | $352.70 | $5m |
| 7 August 2026 | Jorgenrud Karl J President, Glob. Industrial | Sold | 7,886 | $368.30 | $3m |
| 24 February 2026 | Young Bryan J SVP - Corp Strategy & Devel. | Sold | 2,513 | $364.47 | $915,913 |
| 2 February 2026 | Davie Colin M. Pres. & GM, Glob. Supply Chain | Sold | 2,976 | $359.50 | $1m |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 19 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 28 Jul 2026 and 5 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 2.4× its equity.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.