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RPM, RPM International

Chemicals capital-intensive

Our construction product lines and services are sold directly to manufacturers, contractors, distributors and end-users, including industrial manufacturing facilities, concrete and cement producers, public institutions and other commercial customers.

Approximately 30% of our sales are generated in international markets through a combination of exports to and direct sales in foreign countries.

Consumer segment products are sold directly to mass merchandisers, home improvement centers, hardware stores, residential construction suppliers, paint stores, craft shops and to other customers through distributors.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

RPM · RPM International

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$7.4B

+0.5% YoY · 6% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $7.7B 5-yr avg $7.0B

Gross margin 41% 5-yr avg 39%

Operating margin 12.1% 5-yr avg 11.5%

ROIC 14% 5-yr avg 14%

Owner-earnings margin 7% 5-yr avg 7%

Free cash flow margin 7% 5-yr avg 7%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What moves the needle: Gross margin has run about 38% and operating margin about 10% through the cycle, a solid spread between what it charges and what the product costs to make. Inventory runs near 15% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. Read this kind of business on the spread and utilization. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has sat near the cost of capital (median 12%). By owner earnings: roughly 7% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMFeb 2026
											Income statement
$4.8B	$5.0B	$5.3B	$5.6B	$5.5B	$6.1B	$6.7B	$7.3B	$7.3B	$7.4B	$7.7B	RevenueRevenue
43%	44%	38%	38%	38%	39%	36%	38%	41%	41%	41%	Gross marginGross mgn
32%	33%	28%	29%	28%	27%	27%	27%	29%	29%	29%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	R&D / revenueR&D/rev
$572M	$338M	$520M	$441M	$508M	$753M	$694M	$767M	$905M	$888M	$936M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
11.9%	6.8%	9.8%	7.9%	9.2%	12.3%	10.3%	10.6%	12.3%	12.0%	12.1%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$355M	$182M	$338M	$267M	$304M	$503M	$491M	$479M	$588M	$689M	$666M	Net incomeNet inc.
26%	25%	19%	21%	25%	25%	19%	26%	25%	13%	19%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$475M	$386M	$390M	$293M	$550M	$766M	$179M	$577M	$1.1B	$768M	$806M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$111M	$117M	$128M	$142M	$157M	$147M	$153M	$155M	$171M	$194M	$210M	DepreciationDeprec.
$9M	$88M	($76M)	($115M)	$89M	$117M	($466M)	($57M)	$363M	($114M)	($70M)	Working capital & otherWC & other
$117M	$126M	$115M	$137M	$148M	$157M	$222M	$254M	$214M	$230M	$231M	CapexCapex
2.4%	2.5%	2.2%	2.5%	2.7%	2.6%	3.3%	3.5%	2.9%	3.1%	3.0%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$358M	$260M	$276M	$156M	$402M	$609M	$26M	$422M	$908M	$538M	$575M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
7.4%	5.2%	5.2%	2.8%	7.3%	10.0%	0.4%	5.8%	12.4%	7.3%	7.5%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$358M	$260M	$276M	$156M	$402M	$609M	($44M)	$323M	$908M	$538M	$575M	Free cash flowFCF
7.4%	5.2%	5.2%	2.8%	7.3%	10.0%	−0.7%	4.4%	12.4%	7.3%	7.5%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$144M	$157M	$167M	$181M	$185M	$195M	$204M	$214M	$232M	$256M	$268M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
$71M	$22M	$17M	$200M	$125M	$50M	$53M	$50M	$55M	$70M	—	BuybacksBuybacks
15%	8%	12%	9%	11%	15%	13%	12%	15%	15%	14%	ROICROIC
26%	13%	21%	19%	24%	29%	25%	22%	23%	24%	21%	Return on equityROE
15%	2%	10%	6%	9%	18%	14%	12%	14%	15%	13%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$412M	$515M	$413M	$248M	$260M	$273M	$227M	$243M	$237M	$302M	$321M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$963M	$995M	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.1B	$1.3B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.2B	ReceivablesReceiv.
$686M	$788M	$834M	$842M	$810M	$938M	$1.2B	$1.1B	$956M	$1.0B	$1.1B	InventoryInvent.
$501M	$535M	$592M	$557M	$535M	$717M	$800M	$681M	$650M	$756M	$675M	Accounts payablePayables
$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.8B	$2.0B	$1.7B	$1.8B	$1.7B	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$2.1B	$2.4B	$2.5B	$2.5B	$2.4B	$2.8B	$3.2B	$3.2B	$2.9B	$3.2B	$3.1B	Current assetsCur. assets
$1.0B	$1.2B	$1.0B	$1.5B	$1.1B	$1.3B	$2.0B	$1.5B	$1.5B	$1.5B	$1.3B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
2.1×	1.9×	2.5×	1.6×	2.2×	2.1×	1.6×	2.1×	2.0×	2.2×	2.3×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$1.2B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.6B	$1.7B	GoodwillGoodwill
$4.8B	$5.1B	$5.3B	$5.4B	$5.6B	$6.3B	$6.7B	$6.8B	$6.6B	$7.8B	$7.9B	Total assetsAssets
$1.6B	$2.1B	$2.2B	$2.5B	$2.5B	$2.4B	$2.7B	$2.7B	$2.1B	$2.6B	$2.6B	Total debtDebt
$1.2B	$1.6B	$1.8B	$2.3B	$2.3B	$2.1B	$2.5B	$2.4B	$1.9B	$2.3B	$2.3B	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
6.2×	3.5×	5.0×	4.3×	5.0×	8.8×	7.9×	6.4×	7.7×	9.2×	8.5×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.3B	$1.7B	$2.0B	$2.1B	$2.5B	$2.9B	$3.1B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
—	$141M	—	—	—	—	—	$37M	—	$11M	$11M	Goodwill written downGW imp.
											Per share
137M	135M	137M	134M	130M	129M	130M	129M	128M	128M	128M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$35.21	$36.68	$38.80	$41.42	$42.37	$47.36	$51.77	$56.33	$57.16	$57.51	$60.40	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$2.59	$1.35	$2.46	$1.98	$2.34	$3.90	$3.79	$3.72	$4.58	$5.37	$5.21	EPS (diluted)EPS
$2.62	$1.92	$2.01	$1.16	$3.09	$4.72	$0.20	$3.28	$7.08	$4.20	$4.50	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$2.62	$1.92	$2.01	$1.16	$3.09	$4.72	$-0.34	$2.50	$7.08	$4.20	$4.50	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$1.06	$1.16	$1.22	$1.35	$1.42	$1.51	$1.58	$1.66	$1.81	$1.99	$2.10	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$0.86	$0.93	$0.84	$1.02	$1.14	$1.22	$1.72	$1.98	$1.67	$1.79	$1.81	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$10.04	$10.62	$11.89	$10.47	$9.71	$13.50	$15.30	$16.62	$19.56	$22.51	$24.64	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+5.6%/yr	+6.3%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+5.4%/yr	+6.3%/yr
EPS	+8.4%/yr	+18.1%/yr
Dividends / share	+7.3%/yr	+7.0%/yr
Capital spending / share	+8.5%/yr	+9.5%/yr
Book value / share	+9.4%/yr	+18.3%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

128Mpeak FY2018

ROIC

15%low FY2017

Gross margin

41%low FY2022

Net debt ÷ owner earnings

4.4×peak FY2022

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$538Mowner earningsvs.$689Mnet incomelow FY2022

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business reported $689M of profit but $538M of owner earnings: $150M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

Reported net income$689M

Owner earnings$538M · 7% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$689M	$588M	$479M	$491M	$503M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$194M	+$171M	+$155M	+$153M	+$147M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	−$114M	+$363M	−$57M	−$466M	+$117M
Cash from operations	$768M	$1.1B	$577M	$179M	$766M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$230M	−$214M	−$155M	−$153M	−$157M
Owner earnings	$538M	$908M	$422M	$26M	$609M
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	—	—	−$99M	−$69M	—
Free cash flow	$538M	$908M	$323M	($44M)	$609M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	7%	12%	6%	0%	10%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? 9.2×

Comfortable

Operating income $888M ÷ interest expense $97M

What this means
Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $2.3B · 2.6× operating profit

Meaningful net debt

Cash $302M + ST investments $5M − debt $2.6B

What this means
Netting $307M of cash and short-term investments against $2.6B of debt leaves $2.3B owed, about 2.6× a year's operating profit (3.0× on the gross debt, before the cash). It also holds $22M in longer-dated marketable securities; counting those, it sits at $2.3B of net debt. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? 98d

Long (60+ days)

DSO 75 + DIO 88 − DPO 64 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital 12%

Solid through the cycle

10-yr median, range 8%–15%; 15% latest = NOPAT $773M ÷ invested capital $5.2B

Industry peers: median 9%

What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran 15% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
Owner-earnings margin 6%

Solid through the cycle

10-yr median margin, range 0%–12%; latest $538M = operating cash $768M − maintenance capex $230M

Industry peers: median 7%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 7% of revenue this year, a 6% median across 10 years.
Are earnings backed by cash? 1.12×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $768M ÷ net income $689M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? 60%

Returns about half

Dividends + buybacks $326M ÷ Owner Earnings $538M

What this means
Of $538M Owner Earnings, $326M (60%) went back to shareholders, $256M dividends, $70M buybacks. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.
Investing or harvesting? 1.19×

Maintaining

Capex $230M ÷ depreciation $194M

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 5 of 6 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Pass

Revenue ≥ $2B · $7.4B

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Pass

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 2.16×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Miss

Debt ≤ working capital · $2.6B vs $1.7B WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Pass

A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Pass

Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +101%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $4.59/share (latest year $5.40), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $22.61/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 10 of 10

What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
Return on capital ≥ 15% 2 of 10 yrs

What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
Operating margin 9% → 12% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 9% early to 12% lately, median 10% — pricing power intact or improving.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 19%

What this means
Every extra dollar the business reinvested came back at a high incremental return — the lens GBM read for a moat that reinvests rather than merely harvests. The record and the 10-K are where you check whether the rate holds.
Owner earnings growth +10%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings grew about 10% a year over the record.
Worst year 2017 · 6.8% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count −0.7%/yr

What this means
The share count is shrinking, buybacks are quietly growing your slice of the business.
Dividend record rising

What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

In its own filing Framed as a capability

The filing positions AI as something the company uses, not something it fears.

“In addition, advances in artificial intelligence and increasingly widespread use of advanced technology, by us, our third parties or others, including generative artificial intelligence tools, may increase the risk of unauthorized access to our intellectual property or otherwise …”

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat, and the company is using it that way.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Feb 28, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$3.1B

Cash & short-term investments$299M
Receivables$1.2B
Inventory$1.1B
Other current assets$410M

Current liabilities$1.3B

Debt due within a year$8M
Accounts payable$675M
Other current liabilities$655M

Current ratio2.28×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio1.44×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.22×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$1.7Bthe cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$8M due · $299M cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Feb 28, 2026 balance sheet

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+8.9%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters2.0× → 2.3×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$644Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Debt incl. operating leases$1.8B$413M of it operating leases; with finance leases, “total fixed claims” below reaches $3.0B (annual-report basis)

Deferred revenue$157Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Lease obligations

the lease note, SEC EDGAR →

Debt by another name. What the business owes on the property, aircraft, stores and equipment it rents rather than owns is a fixed claim due on a schedule; added back to the debt, it is the true leverage. That ladder, and what it adds to the debt on the page above.

'26$84M

'27$72M

'28$56M

'29$43M

'30$36M

later$181M

Lease payments by year, scaled to the largest; “later” is everything beyond year five, shown apart. These are the contractual cash payments, before the interest the filing imputes back out to the balance-sheet liability.

Due in the next 12 months$84Ma fixed cash payment, owed whether or not the business has a good year

Total lease payments$471Mevery year plus the tail, undiscounted: the full cash the leases will take

On the balance sheet$387Mthe present value of those payments, the recognised lease liability

True leverage: debt plus leases

On-balance-sheet debt$2.6B

Lease obligations (present value)$387M

Total fixed claims on the business$3.0B

Counting the leases the way Buffett does, the fixed claims on this business come to $3.0B, of which the leases are 13%. The lease wall above and the debt schedule together are the calendar of what must be paid, and when.

Lease ladder read from the ASC 842 tags in the company’s May 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled: the yearly buckets sum to the undiscounted total, which less the imputed interest equals the balance-sheet liability; a ladder that doesn’t tie out is withheld.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $5.5B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a balanced allocator, splitting cash between the business, owners, and the balance sheet.

Reinvested$1.7B · 31%
Dividends$1.9B · 35%
Buybacks$713M · 13%
Retained (debt / cash)$1.1B · 21%

Returned to owners$2.6B
67% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $1.9B as dividends and $713M as buybacks.
Source of fundingOperating cash
Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span debt rose $1.0B and cash and short-term investments fell $40M.
Average price paid for buybacks$74.64
Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 9M shares were bought for $674M, about $74.64 each. Year to year the price paid ranged from $60.92 (2019) to $120.32 (2025); its heaviest year, 2019, paid $60.92 ($200M).
Net change in share count−6.6%
The diluted count fell from 137M to 128M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.
Dividend record$1.99/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 7% a year. It was never cut over the span.
Return on what it retained21%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($1.5B over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $325M, so each retained $1 added about 0.21 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Acquisitions & goodwill

from the balance sheet & the 10-year cash-flow record

Goodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.

Goodwill & intangibles$2.4B31% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired

Against book equity56%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital

Cash spent acquiring$800Kover 10 years buying other businesses, against $1.7B of capital spent building

$189M written down across 3 years (2017, 2023, 2025): goodwill the company has already conceded it overpaid for, charged against earnings. A write-down costs no cash (the cash went out when the deal was signed), but it is management marking its own past judgment to market.

Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and write-downs summed across the 10-year record, from the company's own filings.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Mr. Sullivan	$11.9M	$27.1M	$609M
2022	Mr. Sullivan	$9.1M	$7.3M	$26M
2023	Mr. Sullivan	$6.4M	$2.5M	$422M
2024	Mr. Sullivan	$11.7M	$17.7M	$908M
2025	Mr. Sullivan	$11.2M	$9.9M	$538M

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why RPM International is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

1 of the 6 tests turned up something to look into; the other 5 came back clean.

Look hereAre "one-time" charges a yearly habit?5 of 10 years
Management took an impairment or write-down in 5 of the last 10 years, $391M in all. Taken across the majority of the record, the "one-time" label is wearing thin — ask whether these are past deals coming due rather than genuinely isolated events. Read it beside the goodwill the company still carries.

And these came back clean

Is it less profitable than it was?
Did the share count rise anyway?
Did debt outgrow the business?
Did reported profit become cash?
Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Pension & retirement, Income taxes as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Chemicals

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
PPGPPG Industries Inc.	$15.9B	41%	14.7%	16%	7%
EMNEastman Chemical	$8.8B	24%	10.8%	9%	9%
RPMRPM International	$7.4B	39%	10.5%	12%	7%
CFCF Industries Holdings Inc.	$7.1B	30%	24.1%	24%	27%
DDDuPont de Nemours Inc.	$6.8B	33%	9.9%	3%	5%
OLNOlin	$6.8B	11%	4.6%	5%	6%
CCChemours	$5.8B	21%	7.1%	15%	4%
AXTAAxalta Coating Systems	$5.1B	34%	10.2%	8%	9%
Group median	—	32%	10.3%	11%	7%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what RPM International has delivered.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, RPM International earns about $484M on its 6.6% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 7.3% margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($484M) Net of stock comp

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+23%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · ’16→’25+10%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Owner earnings $575M on 128M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-03-30; net debt $2.3B. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh RPM against another business →

The owners of RPM: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "RPM International (RPM), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/RPM, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← RPD its page in the Manual RPRX →

Industry order: ← ROG the Chemicals chapter SOLS →