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RPM International is the most diversified of the three, with a substantial construction-products business alongside coatings and consumer brands. PPG organizes a global coatings portfolio around architectural, performance, and industrial markets. Sherwin-Williams also spans consumer and industrial coatings, but its company-operated paint-store network is a defining part of how it reaches contractors and homeowners.
How the three companies differ at a glance
| Company | Reported business segments | Portfolio emphasis | How products reach customers |
|---|---|---|---|
| RPM International | Construction Products Group; Performance Coatings Group; Consumer | Construction systems and repair products; specialty and high-performance coatings; branded consumer paints and related products. Its portfolio also includes selected food, industrial, restoration, and specialty businesses. | Construction products serve contractors, manufacturers, distributors, and end users. Consumer products include paints, sealants, woodcare, and other home-improvement products. |
| PPG | Global Architectural Coatings; Performance Coatings; Industrial Coatings | Architectural paints; automotive refinish, aerospace, protective and marine coatings, and traffic solutions; industrial and OEM coatings, packaging, and specialty applications. | A multinational manufacturer serving construction, consumer, industrial, transportation, and aftermarket markets. PPG says it operates in more than 50 countries. |
| Sherwin-Williams | Paint Stores Group; Consumer Brands Group; Performance Coatings Group | Architectural paint and coatings; branded and private-label consumer and wood products; industrial, automotive refinish, protective and marine, coil, and packaging coatings. | Company-operated specialty paint stores are a prominent channel, alongside retail and dealer sales and company branches, sales staff, and third-party distributors. |
Segment names and boundaries come from the companies’ own filings, not a standardized industry taxonomy. RPM’s Construction Products Group (CPG) and Performance Coatings Group (PCG) overlap with end markets served by PPG and Sherwin-Williams, but RPM’s portfolio also reaches beyond conventional paint and coatings categories. PPG’s segments span several regions and end uses, while Sherwin-Williams’ owned store network makes its retail route to market especially visible. RPM fiscal 2026 Form 10-K; PPG 2025 Form 10-K; Sherwin-Williams 2025 Form 10-K.
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What RPM International sells and how it is organized
RPM’s subsidiaries make specialty paints and coatings, infrastructure repair products, roofing systems, sealants, and adhesives for construction, industrial, specialty, and consumer markets. That breadth is why it is not simply a paint-company counterpart to PPG or Sherwin-Williams: construction products and other specialty businesses are important parts of its portfolio.
Effective June 1, 2025, RPM moved from a four-segment structure to three reportable segments. In its fiscal 2026 Form 10-K, the company describes approximate consolidated sales shares of 39% for Construction Products Group, 27% for Performance Coatings Group, and 34% for Consumer. These are approximate shares under the new reporting structure, not a like-for-like measure against peers’ differently defined segments.
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Construction Products Group
This group centers on construction systems and repair products. Its customers and routes to market include contractors, manufacturers, distributors, and end users. The construction focus distinguishes RPM from a portfolio organized mainly around coatings categories.
Performance Coatings Group
RPM’s performance-coatings businesses serve specialty and high-performance applications, including markets that overlap with PPG’s and Sherwin-Williams’ industrial, protective, or related coatings businesses. The segment label does not mean the companies’ segment boundaries or product mixes are identical.
Consumer
RPM’s consumer businesses include branded paints, sealants, woodcare, and other home-improvement products. The consumer segment also sits alongside the company’s selected food, restoration, and specialty activities in its wider portfolio.
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How PPG groups a global coatings portfolio
PPG reports Global Architectural Coatings, Performance Coatings, and Industrial Coatings. The categories cover a wide span: architectural paints and related products; automotive refinish, aerospace, protective and marine coatings, and traffic solutions; and industrial or OEM coatings, packaging, and specialty applications. PPG describes operations in more than 50 countries, reinforcing its role as a geographically broad coatings manufacturer. Its investor overview provides company information, while its annual report details the reporting structure.
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PPG’s three segments are grouped around product and end-market families, but they contain multiple applications and customer types. They should not be treated as direct equivalents of RPM’s construction-led groupings or Sherwin-Williams’ store-oriented Paint Stores Group.
Why Sherwin-Williams’ store network matters
Sherwin-Williams reports Paint Stores Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group. Its business includes architectural paint, consumer and wood products, and coatings for industrial, automotive refinish, protective and marine, coil, and packaging uses.
The clearest channel distinction is its company-operated specialty paint stores. At December 31, 2025, Sherwin-Williams reported 4,853 such stores in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean region, serving contractors and do-it-yourself homeowners. Consumer Brands sells through retail and dealers; Performance Coatings also uses company branches, sales staff, and third-party distributors.
This network is not merely another product category: it is an owned route to customers. It makes Sherwin-Williams’ direct specialty-retail presence more explicit than the channel descriptions available for the other two companies in the cited filings.
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What the reported sales figures do—and do not—show
| Company | Reported net sales | Reporting period and source |
|---|---|---|
| PPG | $15.875 billion | Calendar year 2025; PPG Industries, Inc., 2025 Form 10-K. |
| Sherwin-Williams | $23.5743 billion | Calendar year 2025; The Sherwin-Williams Company, 2025 Form 10-K. |
| RPM International | Not stated here | The cited RPM filing covers the fiscal year ended May 31, 2026; a matching total-sales figure is not established for this comparison. |
PPG and Sherwin-Williams’ figures are company-reported calendar-year totals; RPM’s cited fiscal 2026 year ended May 31, 2026. Because the periods differ and a comparable RPM total is not established here, the figures do not support a three-company revenue ranking. RPM’s segment percentages describe its own sales mix, not total sales, so they cannot be used to infer its scale relative to peers.
There is another comparability issue within Sherwin-Williams: its 2025 segment figures include substantial intersegment transfers from Consumer Brands to Paint Stores. Segment revenue therefore should not be added as if every segment sale were an external sale to a customer.
Which comparison is most useful?
- For portfolio breadth beyond coatings: RPM stands apart because construction systems, infrastructure repair, roofing, sealants, and other specialty businesses sit alongside paints and coatings.
- For a coatings portfolio grouped across global end markets: PPG’s architectural, performance, and industrial segments encompass applications from building paints to aerospace, refinish, traffic, packaging, and OEM coatings.
- For an owned specialty paint-store channel: Sherwin-Williams has the most explicit company-operated store network, with 4,853 stores reported across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean region at the end of 2025.
These are distinctions in business mix and distribution—not evidence that similarly named products are interchangeable, or a recommendation about which company’s shares to buy.
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