PPG · Materials(paints, varnishes, lacquers, enamels & allied prods) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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PPG Industries Inc reported revenue of $15.9 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 1.2% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 16.7% in 2016 to 14.4%, and it earned 11.6% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $16.9 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 35.1% went to buybacks and 30.9% to dividends; the share count fell 15.1%. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 5.58 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202515.9B+1.2% a year over 9 years
Operating margin14.4%gross margin 41.3%
Return on invested capital11.6%12.7% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay1.1B7.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.8×net debt 5.1B
Piotroski F-score6/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
05B10B15B20B
2016Revenue 14.3BOperating income 2.4B
2017Revenue 14.7BOperating income 2.3B
2018Revenue 15.4BOperating income 2.1B
2019Revenue 15.1BOperating income 2.3B
2020Revenue 13.8BOperating income 2.1B
2021Revenue 16.8BOperating income 2.2B
2022Revenue 15.6BOperating income 2.0B
2023Revenue 16.2BOperating income 2.7B
2024Revenue 15.8BOperating income 2.1B
2025Revenue 15.9BOperating income 2.3B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+0.6%
+2.8%
+1.2%
Operating income
+3.8%
+1.6%
-0.5%
Net income
+15.4%
+8.3%
+6.8%
Earnings per share
+17.1%
+9.3%
+8.7%
Free cash flow per share
+36.6%
-7.8%
+3.9%
Dividend per share
+4.8%
+5.8%
+6.7%
Shares
-1.5%
-0.9%
-1.8%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 7.3%
0%5%10%15%20%
2016Return on invested capital 18.9%
2017Return on invested capital 16.4%
2018Return on invested capital 17.4%
2019Return on invested capital 16.8%
2020Return on invested capital 15.0%
2021Return on invested capital 13.4%
2022Return on invested capital 11.6%
2023Return on invested capital 14.4%
2024Return on invested capital 12.4%
2025Return on invested capital 11.6%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
00.5B1.0B1.5B
2016Economic profit 1.1B
2017Economic profit 881.2M
2018Economic profit 972.5M
2019Economic profit 981.2M
2020Economic profit 852.8M
2021Economic profit 784.8M
2022Economic profit 581.7M
2023Economic profit 984.2M
2024Economic profit 636.9M
2025Economic profit 661.1M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
19.8%
Return on assets
7.1%
Asset turnover
0.72×
Research & development
2.8% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
21.7% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
00.5B1.0B1.5B2.0B
2016Net income 873.0MFree cash flow 971.0MAfter stock-based pay 926.0M
2017Net income 1.6BFree cash flow 1.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.2B
2018Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 1.0B
2019Net income 1.2BFree cash flow 1.7BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2020Net income 1.1BFree cash flow 1.8BAfter stock-based pay 1.8B
2021Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 1.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2022Net income 1.0BFree cash flow 477.0MAfter stock-based pay 443.0M
2023Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 1.9BAfter stock-based pay 1.8B
2024Net income 1.1BFree cash flow 699.0MAfter stock-based pay 657.0M
2025Net income 1.6BFree cash flow 1.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
16.9B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 28%4.7B
Acquisitions 31%5.2B
Dividends 31%5.2B
Share buybacks 35%5.9B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -25%-4.2B
Over the same years it paid 435.0M in stock. The share count fell 15.1%. 5.5B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0$2$4$6$8
2016Earnings per share $3.26Free cash flow per share $3.63Dividend per share $1.55
2017Earnings per share $6.18Free cash flow per share $4.69Dividend per share $1.68
2018Earnings per share $5.46Free cash flow per share $4.30Dividend per share $1.85
2019Earnings per share $5.22Free cash flow per share $7.00Dividend per share $1.96
2020Earnings per share $4.45Free cash flow per share $7.68Dividend per share $2.08
2021Earnings per share $6.01Free cash flow per share $4.97Dividend per share $2.24
2022Earnings per share $4.32Free cash flow per share $2.01Dividend per share $2.40
2023Earnings per share $5.35Free cash flow per share $7.99Dividend per share $2.52
2024Earnings per share $4.75Free cash flow per share $2.98Dividend per share $2.65
2025Earnings per share $6.94Free cash flow per share $5.12Dividend per share $2.77
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
220M240M260M280M
2016Diluted shares 267.4M
2017Diluted shares 257.8M
2018Diluted shares 245.4M
2019Diluted shares 238.2M
2020Diluted shares 237.9M
2021Diluted shares 239.4M
2022Diluted shares 237.3M
2023Diluted shares 237.2M
2024Diluted shares 234.9M
2025Diluted shares 227.1M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Debt and liquidity
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
02B4B6B
2016Net debt 2.5B
2017Net debt 2.7B
2018Net debt 4.1B
2019Net debt 3.8B
2020Net debt 3.5B
2021Net debt 5.6B
2022Net debt 5.7B
2023Net debt 4.6B
2024Net debt 4.5B
2025Net debt 5.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.8×
Interest coverage
9× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.62 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 64d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
6of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✕Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforefailed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
5.58safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.14 × 6.56+0.91
Retained earnings ÷ assets 1.04 × 3.26+3.38
Operating income ÷ assets 0.10 × 6.72+0.70
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.57 × 1.05+0.60
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.46below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.12+1.03
Gross margin slipping 1.01+0.53
Soft assets 0.95+0.38
Sales growth 1.00+0.89
Slower depreciation 1.07+0.12
Overheads vs sales 1.01-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.02-0.08
Leverage rising 1.02-0.33
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
None of the six cross-checks fires for the latest year: receivables and inventory move with revenue, profit turns into cash, investment keeps up with depreciation, the tax rate is ordinary and debt is moderate.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$137.01discounted at 7.3% a year · 63% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
19.7×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
12.9×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.3×
Free cash flow yield
3.6%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today13.3B
Everything after, today23.0B
The whole business36.3B
Minus net debt-5.1B
What belongs to shareholders31.1B
Divided among 227.1M shares: <strong>$137.01</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
01B2B3B
2016Reported 926.0M
2017Reported 1.2B
2018Reported 1.0B
2019Reported 1.6B
2020Reported 1.8B
2021Reported 1.1B
2022Reported 443.0M
2023Reported 1.8B
2024Reported 657.0M
2025Reported 1.1B
2026Projected 1.7B
2027Projected 1.8B
2028Projected 1.8B
2029Projected 1.9B
2030Projected 1.9B
2031Projected 2.0B
2032Projected 2.0B
2033Projected 2.1B
2034Projected 2.1B
2035Projected 2.2B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
16.4B
16.8B
17.3B
17.8B
18.3B
18.8B
19.3B
19.8B
20.3B
20.8B
Growth
3.0%
2.9%
2.9%
2.8%
2.8%
2.7%
2.7%
2.6%
2.6%
2.5%
Cash margin
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
Free cash flow
1.7B
1.8B
1.8B
1.9B
1.9B
2.0B
2.0B
2.1B
2.1B
2.2B
Worth today
1.6B
1.5B
1.5B
1.4B
1.3B
1.3B
1.2B
1.2B
1.1B
1.1B
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
6.3%
143
159
179
206
242
6.8%
127
140
156
176
202
7.3%
114
124
137
153
172
7.8%
103
112
122
134
150
8.3%
94
101
109
120
132
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-1.0%
1.0%
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
8.4%
90
100
111
123
135
9.4%
101
112
124
137
151
10.5%
111
124
137
151
167
11.5%
122
136
150
166
183
12.6%
133
148
163
180
199
All the inputs moving at once
4,997 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$88.00
Median$136.90
90th percentile$223.46
$100.00$200.00$300.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$108.92</b> and <b>$174.93</b>; one in ten below $88.00, one in ten above $223.46.
Does the long run make sense?
12.6×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 12.6 times that year's EBITDA.
39%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 6% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 39% on the new capital — it has earned 13% on average over the last five years.
63%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 10 filings by 6 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market$1,4092 purchase(s) by 1 insider(s)
Sold on the open market—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.