Sherwin-Williams Suffers From Hurricane Hits

The hurricanes that hit Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and surrounding areas since late August have wrought massive devastation, and they've brought local economies to a standstill in some places. That had an impact on companies with retail operations across the affected regions, and Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW) was no exception. Even though the company has benefited from a shift in demand toward the professional contractor market to do paint work, weeks of limited operations took their toll on Sherwin-Williams' ability to squeeze the most from what has been a favorable housing market lately.

Coming into Tuesday's third-quarter financial report, Sherwin-Williams investors were prepared for sluggish performance, but they still wanted to see double-digit earnings growth and big sales gains from the paint maker's purchase of rival Valspar. Sherwin-Williams was able to beat reduced expectations, but the news it gave about its future made some shareholders nervous. Let's look more closely at how Sherwin-Williams did and what lies ahead for the paint specialist.

Image source: Sherwin-Williams.

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Source: Fool.com