Should Sherwin-Williams Stock Holders Look At Albemarle Instead?
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Sherwin-Williams (SHW) sells paint and Albemarle (ALB) sells lithium, and both companies grew sales more from pricing than from volume in the September 2026 quarter, compared with a year earlier. The difference lies in who sets those prices. Sherwin-Williams implemented its own 8% increase in its Paint Stores Group on September 1, while Albemarle’s energy storage business sells lithium at market rates. So what did each company say about the prices it expects next?
What Did Sherwin-Williams And Albemarle Say About Prices?
Sherwin-Williams expects its own price rise to take fuller hold in 2027. On its October 27, 2026 call, management said the September increase is tracking as planned and should reach its usual realization range in the first half of 2027, while it expects raw material inflation in the low to mid single digits for 2027. Sherwin-Williams also held the midpoint of its fiscal 2026 forecast for adjusted earnings per share at $12. For 2027, management said it expects demand to stay soft, with continued choppiness across most end markets.
Albemarle expects its lithium results to shrink as prices fall. Management said on its November 5, 2026 call that energy storage sales and adjusted EBITDA should fall in the December quarter from the September quarter, assuming today’s lower market pricing persists, and added that prices are moving down right now. Its specialties business, which sells bromine products, is faring better. Albemarle raised that business’s fiscal 2026 adjusted EBITDA forecast to $363 million at the midpoint, from $300 million.
The two companies ultimately delivered different types of pricing updates. Sherwin-Williams detailed a price it chose to charge, while Albemarle described a market price it has to accept.
Sherwin-Williams Owes More, Albemarle’s Margin Moves More
Sherwin-Williams owed $13.7 billion net of cash at September 30, 2026. That is $14.0 billion of total debt less $264 million of cash. Albemarle’s cash nearly matched its debt, standing at $1.85 billion against $1.88 billion. The two companies carry about the same total debt relative to market value, at 16.3% for Sherwin-Williams and 16.8% for Albemarle, so what separates them is Albemarle’s cash.
Sherwin-Williams recorded an operating margin that barely moved. It came in at 17.6% in fiscal Q3 2026, compared with 18.1% in fiscal Q3 2025. Management said the quarter fell below its standard for turning sales into earnings.
Albemarle’s operating margin has moved far more. It went from a loss in fiscal Q3 2025 to 26.4% in fiscal Q2 2026, then fell to 10.1% in fiscal Q3 2026. Albemarle’s management expects energy storage margins to fall in the December quarter, as higher-priced spodumene from its Talison joint venture flows into production costs while prices trend lower.
What A Sherwin-Williams Holder Would Gain And Give Up
A holder who switches gets a cheaper stock that has grown faster over the past year. Albemarle trades at 1.8 times trailing sales, compared with 3.4 for Sherwin-Williams. Over the same twelve months, both companies turned about the same share of sales into operating profit, posting 16.3% at Albemarle and 16.2% at Sherwin-Williams. Albemarle reported a 24.4% revenue increase from the year before, compared with 7.0% growth at Sherwin-Williams.
A holder who switches gives up a margin that has held steady. Sherwin-Williams’ operating margin averaged 16.1% across the latest three twelve-month periods, while Albemarle averaged an operating loss of 2.4% of sales.
On these measures, Albemarle comes out ahead on valuation, cash and the latest year’s growth, and Sherwin-Williams on a margin that held across three years. If you own Sherwin-Williams for earnings that hold up in what its management expects to be a soft 2027, Albemarle is a different holding, not a cheaper copy of the same one. Albemarle’s operating margin, due with its fiscal Q4 2026 report in February 2027, is the next result to watch, though a single quarter cannot show the steady record that would make it a closer match for you.
Does This Mean You Should Act On SHW?
Betting on a single stock is always risky, whichever way you lean. The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio holds 30 quality companies in equal weight and has returned 105% since its September 2020 launch.
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