Updating Sherwin-Williams Co., Ford Motor Co. and Tegna Inc.

Article Excerpt

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. $427 (New York symbol SHW; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 92.2 million; Market cap: $39.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.sherwin-williams.com) acquired rival paint maker Valspar Corp. on June 1, 2017. If you include Valspar’s debt, the total purchase price was $11.3 billion. Merging the various operations should cut $320 million from Sherwin’s annual costs by the end of the third year. If you exclude costs to integrate Valspar and other unusual items, earnings per share in the three months ended December 31, 2018, rose 12.0%, to $3.54 from $3.16 a year earlier. Sales improved 2.1%, to $4.06 billion from $3.98 billion a year earlier. An increase in selling prices offset the negative impact of new accounting rules, which now require companies to deduct certain selling and general expenses from revenue. Sherwin also raised its quarterly dividend by 31.4%, to $1.13 a share from $0.86. The new annual rate of $4.52 yields…