Masco

Masco's plumbing business, home to Delta and Hansgrohe, grew 9% last quarter to 1.4 billion dollars, its strongest volume quarter since the pandemic. Even with rising costs, the company pushed through price increases and cut expenses enough to grow adjusted operating profit 13% and lift earnings per share 20% to 1 dollar and 4 cents.

Masco throws off a lot of cash and hands much of it back to shareholders. It bought back 202 million dollars of its own stock last quarter, on track for 800 million dollars this year, shrinking its share count about 4 and a half percent. It also pays a steady dividend and carries low debt, giving it room to keep rewarding investors even in a soft market.

The do-it-yourself side of the paint business keeps shrinking as high interest rates push people to delay projects like repainting a room. Masco is heavily tied to home repair and remodel spending, which is only growing around 2 to 4 percent a year, so a weak housing market caps how fast the whole company can grow.

Masco's products rely on copper, resins, and other commodities whose prices have been climbing, partly because AI data centers are soaking up huge amounts of copper. Because of the way inventory flows through its books, these higher costs can hit profits later in the year, which could slow the margin gains the company has been making.