undamentalytics Newsletter

Sherwin-Williams key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Sherwin-Williams had return on equity of 59.4%, a net margin of 10.9%, debt equal to 236.4% of equity and a current ratio of 0.87. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Sherwin-Williams: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin46.0%44.8%42.7%44.1%45.3%46.4%49.0%49.9%44.8%42.3%44.9%47.3%42.8%42.1%46.7%48.5%48.8%48.6%
Operating margin—12.2%11.2%13.7%14.2%15.2%17.3%18.3%14.9%14.9%15.7%18.4%15.5%15.3%18.1%———
Net margin6.1%5.9%5.0%6.6%7.4%7.8%9.3%9.6%11.5%6.3%8.6%11.1%9.3%9.1%10.4%11.6%10.9%10.7%
Free-cash-flow margin10.8%7.5%6.6%7.7%9.0%7.9%10.7%9.0%11.1%9.7%11.1%16.9%9.4%5.8%11.4%9.0%11.3%12.4%
Return on equity29.2%29.8%28.3%38.1%42.2%62.5%113.1%82.5%62.5%30.1%39.2%52.5%61.7%72.9%70.1%69.0%59.4%62.4%
Return on assets10.1%9.7%8.5%11.0%11.9%14.3%18.4%18.1%13.0%5.7%7.8%9.9%9.1%9.3%10.5%11.5%10.4%10.1%
Asset turnover1.641.641.691.661.611.841.981.891.120.900.900.900.971.021.010.990.950.94
Current ratio1.271.071.051.681.250.961.241.281.111.011.021.000.880.990.830.790.870.71
Debt to equity54.8%64.9%65.5%95.1%97.0%180.5%224.7%103.9%288.4%250.5%210.6%229.6%394.5%340.7%265.1%244.1%236.4%296.6%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)—13.4x23.2x30.5x23.0x26.4x31.8x14.0x8.5x7.1x8.0x9.9x9.2x8.7x10.0x———
Effective tax rate30.0%31.8%40.4%30.4%30.7%31.2%32.0%29.0%−20.4%18.5%22.2%19.4%17.1%21.5%23.2%22.3%23.1%23.4%
R&D as % of revenue0.6%0.5%0.5%0.5%0.5%0.4%0.5%0.5%0.4%0.3%————————
SG&A as % of revenue35.7%35.1%33.8%34.2%34.0%34.3%34.3%34.9%32.0%28.7%29.5%29.8%29.5%28.6%30.6%32.1%32.6%32.4%
Capital spending as % of revenue1.3%1.6%1.8%1.6%1.6%1.8%2.1%2.0%1.5%1.4%1.8%1.7%1.9%2.9%3.9%4.6%3.4%2.4%
Free cash flow ÷ net income176.2%125.7%131.7%115.8%121.9%101.7%115.1%94.4%96.1%152.7%129.3%152.9%100.4%63.1%110.2%77.7%103.3%115.0%
Dividends ÷ net income37.3%33.8%34.7%25.5%27.2%24.9%23.7%27.6%18.5%29.1%27.3%24.0%31.5%30.6%26.1%27.0%30.7%29.3%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow90.2%91.5%89.5%98.3%106.2%193.4%105.9%29.2%19.2%55.3%60.2%94.5%178.3%117.7%78.1%118.2%92.2%105.9%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

2 of 5 checks passed · September 30, 2026
What it owns · $27.0bn
Short-term assets $7.0bnLonger-term assets $19.9bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $13.8bn
Short-term liabilities $9.8bnShareholders' equity $4.0bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $7.0bn of assets due within a year against $9.8bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
  • More cash than debt $264m of cash against $9.4bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 237% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 385% to 237% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $3.7bn of operating cash flow against $9.4bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Interest not separately reported. Not assessable.

From Sherwin-Williams's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

83 /100

Strong moat

How hard Sherwin-Williams's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 18 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 13.7% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 15 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 45.8%, moving by 2.4 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 15 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 16.7%; its worst year was 14.7%.

  • Cash conversion 15 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 10.4% of revenue.

  • Discipline 20 / 20

    The diluted share count fell 8.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.5% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

Head to head: LYB vs SHWECL vs SHWPPG vs SHW

More: Specialty Chemicals stocks compared, Materials sector, rankings of US companies

Figures from Sherwin-Williams's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Sherwin-Williams.