Pittsburgh-based coatings provider PPG Industries Inc. [NYSE: PPG] sold more paint to OEMs and less to body shops, Chairman and CEO Tim Knavish said Oct. 29 on a conference call for Q3 2025 results. The company reported those results the day before, at market-close on Oct. 28.
Knavish told analysts, “Our automotive OEM business delivered an 8% increase in net sales with growth above market in all regions,” double “global light vehicle industry production growth [of] 4%.”
But “in automotive refinish, organic sales decreased by a double-digit percentage versus the prior year, driven by lower sales volumes in the U.S.”
OEM is part of PPG’s industrial coatings segment, which combined saw income jump 16.5% to $233 million, on flat net sales of $1.7 billion in the quarter, its report said. Refinishing is in its performance coatings, where overall quarterly segment income fell 11% to $272 million, on a net sales increase of 3% to $1.4 billion.
PPG cut full-year earnings per share guidance to a range of $7.60 to $7.70 EPS, down from a range of $7.75 to $8.05 EPS, which had been reaffirmed in Q2 2025 reporting at the end of July.
AI Paint Design; Refinishing Weakness, OEM Strength to Continue
Knavish on the call said performance coatings delivered “outstanding results” in areas outside collision repair, “including double-digit organic sales growth in both aerospace coatings and protective and marine coatings.”
This was countered by “lower sales volumes in automotive refinish as our volumes were heavily weighted to the first half of 2025 due to distributor order patterns.”
Earlier-in-the-year patterns were also lower, according to the company, which in the Q2 report said lower refinishing sales were due to an industry slowdown and softer ordering.
Knavish said in a press release these trends will continue in Q4 2025. But he said on the call that its own refinishing organic sales are besting lower overall industry demand due to lower claims, and PPG in Q3 increased refinish subscriptions and hardware installs.
Knavish on the call noted artificial intelligence in new body shop products, including PPG’s newest clear coat, Deltron Premium Glamour Speed Clear Coat. “With this product, we have broken a paradigm, as it is the first of its kind to be fully designed with AI technology,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said industrial coatings overall grew Q3 volume 4% amid flat net sales and OEM’s part showed share gains. “We expect to outgrow the market again in the fourth quarter and throughout 2026,” Knavish said.
Companywide, PPG saw quarterly net sales of $4.1 billion, up 1% year-over-year, with cash and equivalents of $1.9 billion and net debt up 4% YOY to $5.4 billion. It has some $700 million in debt coming due in Q4 and in 2025 has repurchased $690 million of its stock.
Paul Hughes