Shares of Sherwin-Williams Co. SHW, +4.95% ran up 4.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the paint and coatings company reported third-quarter profit and record sales that comfortably beat expectations, boosted by price increases and improved margins. Net income rose to $685.1 million, or $2.62 a share, from $502.2 million, or $1.88 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $2.83 was above the FactSet consensus of $2.56. Sales grew 17.5% to $6.05 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $5.79 billion. “Consolidated net sales increased primarily due to selling price increases in all segments and higher architectural sales volume in The Americas Group, partially offset by lower sales volume in the Consumer Brands Group,” the company said. Cost of goods sold rose less than sales, up 15.0% to $3.46 billion, as gross margin improved to 42.8% from 41.6%. The stock has tumbled 18.0% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX, +1.28% has lost 4.3%.
