Start here if you're new
what it is
RPM makes coatings, sealants, and building materials that help people repair, protect, and finish homes and factories.
how it gets paid
Last year Rpm made $7.4B in revenue. Construction was the main engine at $2.81B, or 38% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 0.5% last year. Revenue rose 3.5% vs. prior year to a record $1.91B.
what just happened
RPM missed EPS by 17.65% even as sales reached $1.91B.
At a glance
A balance sheet — strong enough to weather a downturn
90/100 earnings predictability — you can trust these numbers
22.0x trailing p/e — priced about right
1.9% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
11.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 65/100 — average
What they do
RPM makes coatings, sealants, and building materials that help people repair, protect, and finish homes and factories.
Construction is 38% of sales and Consumer is 33%. That means your money is tied to repairs, homes, and job sites, not one fad. If one market cools, the other still pays the bills.
How they make money
$7.4B
annual revenue · their business grew +0.5% last year
Construction
$2.81B
Consumer
$2.44B
Performance Coatings
$1.48B
Specialty
$0.67B
The products that matter
specialty coatings and sealants portfolio
construction and performance brands
$7.4B revenue base
this portfolio is the whole company. On $7.4B in sales it produced an 8.8% net margin, which tells you RPM is selling necessary products, not luxury markups.
core earnings engine
consumer repair and maintenance products
consumer brands
part of a 4.2% growth story
consumer is one reason RPM does not live or die by one construction cycle. The data here is thin, but the role is clear: keep demand steadier when industrial orders wobble.
stability helper
tuck-in acquisition pipeline
recent bolt-on deals
ready seal + kalzip
RPM keeps adding smaller brands to fill category gaps. That can lift growth above the core business rate, but only if integration costs stop eating into earnings.
execution bet
Key numbers
$7.4B
annual sales
That is how much product RPM moved in a year. Bigger sales spread fixed costs over more revenue.
15.0%
operating margin
For every $100 of sales, RPM keeps $15 before interest and taxes. That is a real profit cushion.
22.0x
trailing P/E
You pay about $22 for each $1 of profit. That is not cheap, so execution has to stay clean.
1.9%
dividend yield
You get $1.90 a year for every $100 invested. That is a small cash return while you wait.
Financial health
A
strength
- balance sheet grade A — very strong financial position
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 90 / 100
- long-term debt $2.5B (14% of capital)
- net profit margin 8.9% — keeps 9 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 16% — $0.16 profit for every $1 investors have put in
A — among the top-rated companies for balance sheet quality.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in RPM 3 years ago → it's now worth $14,090.
The index would have given you $13,880.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
RPM missed EPS by 17.65% even as sales reached $1.91B.
Revenue rose 3.5% vs. prior year to a record $1.91B. EPS came in at $1.26 versus $1.53 expected, so the sales record did not save the profit line.
$1.91B
revenue
$1.26
eps
41.6%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The 17.65% EPS miss mattered most because the stock trades on profit, not just shipment volume.
-
even though sales managed to climb around 4% during the fiscal second quarter, earnings per share tumbled 11% from the year-ago period.
-
the company will likely register mixed results this year.management’s ongoing targeted growth efforts, including strategic acquisitions, should continue to aid the top line. rpm has also been consolidating some of its plant and warehouse facilities, optimizing its operations, and slashing costs in order to bolster margins. these measures will probably help profits advance at a mid- to high-single-digit clip in the back half of the year.
-
even so, the november period’s bottom-line decline may well cause net income to come in pretty flat in fiscal 2026.
-
rpm has been growing with the help of acquisitions.in early january, the tremco construction products group subsidiary announced plans to acquire kalzip, a company focused on the design and production of metal-based roofs and facades for building envelopes. the purchase is set to close during the fiscal fourth quarter, and aligns nicely with its strategy to better serve high-growth and more-specific construction markets. the company also closed on wood staining company ready seal during the first quarter, which followed its fiscal 2025 acquisitions of the pink stuff and tmpc.
-
rpm will probably pursue other tuck-in asset purchases moving forward.in the meantime, the company may well ramp up innovation and research & development efforts to move into adjacent product categories to help expand its market footprint.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the top risk is margin compression during a growth slowdown.
med
sales growth without earnings growth
RPM just showed the bad version of the story: revenue up about 4%, EPS down 11% in the fiscal second quarter. If that pattern repeats, the market stops paying a quality multiple.
the pressure point is the income statement. On $1.9B of quarterly revenue, weaker conversion into profit matters more than another point of sales growth.
med
acquisition integration drag
Ready Seal is closed. Kalzip is planned. RPM's strategy depends on folding smaller businesses into a larger operating base without losing margin. That is execution work, not financial engineering.
if tuck-ins add revenue but delay savings, your $8B revenue target gets less impressive because earnings stay pinned near the current $5.35 setup.
med
cost-cutting fails to show up in reported profit
plant and warehouse consolidation sounds good on paper. You only care if it lifts margin. The current quarter did not give that clean read.
RPM keeps about 8.8% of revenue as net profit today. If that does not improve, upside from a $117.80 stock price gets harder to justify.
this is a $7.4B business with an 8.8% net margin. Small changes in cost control can do more to the thesis than small changes in sales.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
EPS conversion on the next revenue increase
the big tell is simple: if sales rise again, does EPS follow. RPM already proved it can grow revenue. You need proof that margin follows it.
calendar
next earnings report
watch the next quarterly report for whether the $1.26 EPS and 9.3% margin were a one-quarter stumble or the start of a lower-profit year.
trend
integration pace on Ready Seal and Kalzip
RPM's growth playbook uses tuck-ins. If new deals add sales faster than costs, the story improves. If not, the quality premium starts looking generous.
risk
evidence that plant consolidation is working
management has talked about facility and warehouse consolidation. You want to see that show up in margins, not just in slides and prepared remarks.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
below average
momentum score 4 — in human-speak, analysts think this can lag from here unless earnings firm up.
risk profile
above average
stability score 2 — safer than roughly 80% of stocks, which fits a boring-but-competent operator.
chart momentum
below average
technical score 4 — the chart says investors want better proof before they push it much higher.
earnings predictability
90 / 100
management usually delivers a narrow band of outcomes. That makes the recent profit wobble more important, not less.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 2 consecutive quarters — 333 buyers vs. 302 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.1B shares. net buying for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$99
$170
$118
current price
$135
target midpoint · +15% from current · 3-5yr high: $165 (+40% · 10% ann'l return)
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