Sherwin-Williams Sees Net Sales Falling in 2020 If Conditions Don't Improve

By Adriano Marchese

Sherwin-Williams Co. said Wednesday that it anticipates consolidated net sales to fall in 2020 if the economic conditions don't improve until early 2021, and revised its full-year guidance.

In its first-quarter report, the Cleveland-based paints company said it expects full-year net sales to fall by a mid- to high single-digit percentage.

This compares with its previous full-year sales guidance of a rise of 2% to 4%, it said.

The company also lowered its forecast for diluted net income per share in 2020 to a range of $16.46 to $18.46 from its previous guidance of $19.91 to $20.71. It earned $16.49 a share in 2019.

However, should economic conditions begin to return to normal in the third quarter of 2020, with continued improvement in the fourth, Sherwin-Williams estimates full-year consolidated net sales will be somewhere between flat and a low single-digit percentage fall.

In the shorter term, the company expects to feel the weight of a weaker U.S. economy as it sees no immediate and meaningful improvement in most end-markets it serves.

"We anticipate that the rapid deterioration of the U.S. and global economies experienced late in the first quarter due to the Covid-19 pandemic will most likely continue through the second quarter," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John G. Morikis said.

Write to Adriano Marchese at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2020 07:57 ET (11:57 GMT)

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