Sherwin-Williams Lowers Earnings Guidance

   By Allison Prang

Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) said Tuesday it anticipates reporting lower earnings for the 2018 fiscal year than previously expected.

The company said it now expects adjusted earnings for the 2018 fiscal year to be about $18.53 a share. It had been expecting adjusted earnings of $19.05 to $19.20 a share. Sherwin-Williams' updated adjusted earnings guidance excludes more acquisition-related costs and non-operating expenses than the company had previously expected.

The company said that it expects earnings for the 2018 fiscal year of about $11.15 a share. That is less than the company's previous guidance of earnings between $13.85 and $14 a share. The company said its new $11.15 estimate is due to non-operating expenses it expects to record in the fourth quarter and lower sales during that period.

Sherwin-Williams said consolidated net sales in the fourth quarter increased by about 2% year over year, less than the mid-single digit percentage growth previously expected.

The company also said that at stores that were open in the U.S. and Canada for over 12 calendar months, preliminary net sales rose about 3%.

"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," Chief Executive John Morikis said in prepared remarks. "Store sales rebounded somewhat in December, but not enough to bring in the quarter."

Sherwin-Williams said it will report its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results and give guidance for 2019 later this month.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 15, 2019 08:01 ET (13:01 GMT)

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