By Rob Curran

Sherwin-Williams' fourth-quarter net income slipped and the maker of house paint warned that weak demand in the North American Do-it-yourself market was likely to persist this year, even as it forecast earnings growth.

The paint maker posted fourth-quarter earnings of $476.8 million, or $1.92 a share, down from $480.1 million, which translated to $1.90 a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier share float was larger, skewing the per-share comparison.

Excluding certain one off items, Sherwin logged adjusted earnings of $2.23 a share, topping the average analyst target of $2.04 a share, as per FactSet.

Sales rose 5.6% to $5.6 billion, surpassing the mean Wall Street estimate of $5.56 billion.

The company's self-branded stores unit saw sales rise 2.7% to $3.13 billion. Consumer brands unit sales rose 25% to $824.7 million, as the company said its premium Suvinil brand offset weakness in the DIY market. Performance coatings sales rose 3.3% to $1.64 billion.

"We enter 2026 with a continuation of the softer-for-longer demand environment we have previously described," said Chair, Chief Executive and President Heidi Petz, in a statement. "We expect these conditions to persist well into the second half of the year based on current customer sentiment and the macroeconomic indicators we track.

For 2026, the paint maker targeted earnings in a range between $10.70 and $11.10 a share, compared to $10.26 a share in 2025. Sherwin-Williams projected adjusted earnings of $11.50-to-$11.90 a share. Sherwin projected sales growth in the low-to-mid percentage digits for the year.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 29, 2026 07:53 ET (12:53 GMT)

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