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Sherwin-Williams: Painting the wonder of compounding decade after decade

@EQUITYMATES|8 June, 2023

We love coming across stories of boring stocks with incredible returns. It is a reminder that you don’t always have to chase the latest fad. Sometimes a great paint business is a better option than the latest Artificial Intelligence company.

This deep dive profiles Sherwin-Williams, an American paint manufacturer, that has seen it’s share price grow at an average of 14.4% a year since it listed on the share market in 1968, turning every $1 invested into more than $1,600.

But it hasn’t just been Sherwin-Williams. It seems like paint has been an incredible business for investors. In the past 20 years, the S&P 500 has grown 5x and the NASDAQ 100 has grown 11x. In that same time:

PPG Industries (USA) has grown 8x

Berger Paints (Nigeria) has grown 8x

Sherwin Williams (USA) has grown 34x

Asian Paints (India) has grown 182x

Berger Paints (India) has grown 389x

It seems like around the world, paint has been a great business. This article dives deep into Sherwin-Williams and the broader paint industry to help us understand why.


This is an excerpt from our Thought Starters email. Once a week we send you 5 interesting articles that have caught our attention, to get you thinking. No spam, we guarantee.

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