You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: Sherwin-Williams delivered terrific results in the first quarter.
The momentum with which we exited the fourth quarter continued in the first quarter.
We entered the quarter with strong expectations and we finished stronger.
We capitalized on extremely robust demand across both architectural and industrial markets, leading to sales in two of our segments that exceeded the guidance we provided at the beginning of the quarter.
We generated double-digit growth once again in residential repaint as well as in new residential in DIY.
We also generated double-digit growth in our industrial business, with improvement in every region.
Before getting into some of the specific numbers.
I'll remind you that in February, our Board of Directors approved and declared a three-for-one stock split in the form of a stock dividend to make the stock more accessible to employees and a broader base of investors.
Trading of our shares on a stock split-adjusted basis began on April 1, 2021.
So starting with the top line, first quarter 2021 consolidated sales increased 12.3% to $4.66 billion.
Consolidated gross margin decreased 20 basis points to 45.4% due to greater than anticipated raw material cost inflation.
SG&A expense as a percent of sales decreased 300 basis points to 28.5%.
Consolidated profit before tax increased $116.7 million or 29.8% to $509 million.
The first quarter of 2021 included $75.6 million of acquisition related depreciation and amortization expense and one-time costs of $111.9 million related to the divestiture of the Wattyl Australian business.
The first quarter of 2020 included $75.6 million of acquisition-related depreciation and amortization expense.
Excluding these items, consolidated profit before tax increased 48.8% to $696.5 million with flow-through of 44.9%.
Diluted net income per share in the quarter increased to $1.51 per share from $1.15 per share a year ago.
The first quarter of 2021 included acquisition-related depreciation and amortization expense of $0.21 per share and one-time costs related to the Wattyl divestiture of $0.34 per share.
The first quarter of 2020 included acquisition-related depreciation and amortization expense of $0.21 per share.
Excluding these items first quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 51.5% to $2.06 per share from $1.36 per share.
Adjusted EBITDA grew to $848.7 million in the quarter or 18.2% of sales.
Net operating cash grew to a $195.7 million in the quarter.
All three of our operating segments delivered excellent top line growth, margin expansion and strong flow through in the quarter.
Segment margin in the Americas Group improved 240 basis points to 19.2% of sales resulting primarily from operating leverage on the high single-digit top line growth.
Adjusted segment margin in Consumer Brands Group improved 440 basis points to 21.4% of sales resulting primarily from operating leverage on the double-digit top line growth.
Flow-through was 38.9% and adjusted segment margin in Performance Coatings Group improved 60 basis points to 14.3% of sales driven by operating leverage on the double-digit sales growth, which was partially offset by higher raw material costs.
We're off to a tremendous start in 2021.
Credit goes to all of 61,000 members of our team who are serving our customers at a high level, aggressively pursuing and capturing new business and managing through transitory disruptions in the supply chain.
There is no better team in the industry.
Demand was robust across both architectural and industrial businesses in the quarter, particularly in March, where sales were well above our forecast.
We're seeing very positive trends as economies continue to reopen.
As we've often said, volume is the strongest driver of our results and we leverage the strong growth to deliver improved profitability in every segment in the quarter.
In The Americas Group, first quarter sales increased by 8.6% over the same period a year ago including about 1.7 percentage points of price.
The impact of unfavorable currency translation was not material.
Same-store sales in the U.S. and Canada were up 8.2% against a high single-digit comparison.
In residential repaint, our largest segment, we delivered strong double-digit growth in the quarter against a double-digit comparison.
We have grown this business by double-digits for five consecutive years.
We expect this momentum to continue.
Contractors are reporting solid backlogs and interior and exterior work were both very strong.
Demand remained unprecedented in our DIY business where sales were up by a double-digit percentage for the fifth consecutive quarter.
New residential also remained an area of strength for us with low double-digit growth in the quarter against a high single-digit comparison.
New housing permits and starts have been trending very well since last summer and customers are reporting solid order rates.
Momentum is gradually building in our commercial business where sales in the quarter were up low-single digits against a solid quarter a year ago.
Projects continue to resume at varying paces and comparisons are favorable over the remainder of the year.
Property maintenance was down slightly in the quarter though turnover in multifamily properties is improving.
The month of March was positive and we expect to see meaningful improvement as the year progresses.
Protective & Marine was down by a mid-single digit percentage in the quarter, but improved sequentially and delivered strong growth in the month of March.
Growth in smaller customer segments such as flooring, bridge and highway and pharmaceutical was more than offset by softness in the oil and gas segment.
We continue to aggressively pursue opportunities in all these end markets and we expect continued improvement as maintenance projects cannot be delayed indefinitely.
From a product perspective, sales in both interior and exterior paint were up by double-digit percentages with interior being the larger part of the mix, as is normal for our first quarter.
Additionally, this is the third consecutive quarter, spray equipment sales increased by double digits in the quarter.
Contractors typically invest in this type of equipment in anticipation of solid demand.
Our previously announced 3% to 4% price increase to U.S. and Canadian customers became effective February 1st prior to the supply chain disruption the industry began experiencing later in the quarter.
We realized approximately 1.7% from price in the first quarter, and would expect 2% or better in the following quarters.
We will continue to evaluate additional pricing actions as needed.
We opened 11 new stores in the quarter in the U.S. and Canada.
Along with these new stores, we continue to make investments in sales reps, management trainees, innovative new products, e-commerce and productivity enhancing services to drive additional growth.
Moving onto our Consumer Brands Group, sales increased 25% in the quarter, including 2.7 percentage points of positive impact related to currency translation as DIY demand remained robust.
Sales in all regions were above our mid-teen segment growth guidance led by Asia and followed by Europe, North America and Australia respectively.
We exited the Australia business in this segment at the close of the quarter.
As you know, our global supply chain organization is managed within this segment.
We are working collaboratively across all businesses to keep our customers in paint and on the job.
Last, let me comment on first quarter trends in Performance Coatings Group.
The momentum we saw in the third and fourth quarters of last year continued and accelerated in our first quarter.
Group sales increased by a double-digit percentage.
Currency translation was a tailwind of 2% in the quarter.
Price was positive in all regions and all divisions generated growth.
Regionally, sales in Asia grew fastest in the quarter followed by Europe both of which were up by strong double-digit percentages.
Latin America grew by a high single-digit percentage.
North America, the largest region in the Performance Coatings Group continues to gain momentum where sales were up by a low single-digit percentage.
From a divisional perspective, I'll start with the industrial wood division, which has the highest growth in the group.
Sales were up by a strong double-digit percentage in the quarter and we're positive in every region.
Strength in new residential construction continues to drive robust demand for our products in kitchen cabinetry, flooring and furniture applications.
General Industrial, the largest division of the Group, sales were up by a high-teens percentage.
We were positive in every region.
Sales were strong within heavy equipment, building products, containers and general finishing.
While there is likely an element of inventory restocking by our customers in these numbers, we believe growing end market demand is the larger driver given recent PMI and industrial production reports.
Our packaging team also continues to deliver great results.
Sales were up high single-digits against a nearly double-digit quarter a year ago, and were positive in every region.
Demand for food and beverage cans remains robust and our non-BPA coatings continue to gain traction.
This team has been remarkably consistent and has delivered solid growth in every quarter since Sherwin-Williams acquired the business as part of the Valspar acquisition in 2017.
We and our customers continue to invest in this terrific business.
Our Coil Coatings business has also been a remarkably consistent pro forma, sales grew by high single-digit percentage in the quarter against a double-digit comparison a year ago.
This team continues to do an excellent job at winning new accounts in all regions.
We're also seeing a gradual resumption of selected commercial construction projects.
Last automotive refinish sales were up by a mid-single-digit percentage in the quarter.
This level of growth is very encouraging given that miles driven inclusion shop volume remains below pre-pandemic levels, particularly in North America.
We're also pleased with new installations of our products and systems in North America, which were very strong.
This is a good indicator of future momentum in our business.
Before moving on to our outlook, let me speak to capital allocation in the quarter.
We returned approximately $930 million to our shareholders in the quarter in the form of dividends and share buybacks.
We invested $735 million to purchase 3.3 million shares at an average price of $234.96.
We distributed $151.8 million in dividends, an increase of 23.5%.
We also invested $64.3 million in our business through capital expenditures.
We ended the quarter with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.5 times.
Turning to our outlook, we continue to see robust demand in North America residential repaint and new residential and continued recovery in commercial and property maintenance.
Comparisons in DIY will be challenging over the remainder of the year.
So we are excited by opportunities to work with our retail partners to grow sales in the pros who paint segment.
We expect industrial demand will continue to improve as the year progresses.
We'll continue to leverage our strengths in innovation, value-added services and differentiated distribution as we expect to grow at a rate that outpaces the market.
On the cost side of the equation, we now expect raw material inflation for the year to be in the high single-digit to low double-digit range, a significant increase from the low to mid single-digit range, we communicated in January.
In an already challenged supply chain due to COVID-19, the February natural disaster in Texas, further impacted the complex petrochemical network causing significant disruptions.
These production disruptions coupled with surging architectural and industrial demand.
That pressured supply and rapidly driven commodity prices upwards.
Recovery has been significant in recent weeks and is improving, but it's still far from complete.
At this time, we anticipate some moderation of costs in the back half of the year, though they will still be elevated year-over-year.
As we previously described, there is a lag of about a quarter from the time we see inflation in commodities to the time we see the impact in our results.
Given this timing, we expect to see significant raw material inflation in our second quarter, which will be the highest of the year.
The pace at which capacity comes back online and supply becomes more robust remains uncertain.
We have been highly proactive in managing the supply chain disruptions to minimize the impact on our customers.
We expect to be in a similar mode throughout the summer months as reduced raw material availability resulted in lower than anticipated inventory build during our first quarter.
Our close working relationships with customers and the strength of our global supply chain give us great confidence in managing through any challenges that may occur.
We've also been highly proactive in our pricing actions to offset the raw material inflation we are seeing.
We've issued price increases in both the consumer brands and Performance Coatings Group in addition to the previously announced price increase in The Americas Group.
We likely will need to take further pricing actions if raw material costs remain at these elevated levels.
While we are fully committed to combating rising raw material costs, we also recognize that the timing of price realization will likely result in some near term margin pressure.
Against this backdrop, we anticipate second quarter 2021 consolidated net sales will increase by a mid- to high-teens percentage compared to the second quarter of 2020.
We expect the Americas Group to be up by a mid- to high-teens percentage.
We expect Consumer Brands to be down by a low double-digit to mid-teens percentage including a negative impact of approximately 4 percentage points related to the Wattyl divestiture and we expect Performance Coatings to be up by a high 20's percentage.
We expect to have greater clarity of raw material availability and cost inflation trends at that time as well as further confirmation of the strong demand trends, we are currently seeing.
Our current sales and adjusted earnings per share guidance remains unchanged at this time.
We expect consolidated net sales to increase by a mid to high single-digit percentage.
We expect the Americas Group to be up by a mid to high single-digit percentage, Consumer Brands Group to be up or down by a low single-digit percentage including a negative impact of approximately 5 percentage points related to the Wattyl divestiture and Performance Coatings Group to be up by a mid single-digit percentage.
We expect diluted net income per share for 2021 to be in the range of $7.66 to $7.93 per share compared to $7.36 per share earned in 2020.
Full year 2021 earnings per share guidance includes acquisition-related amortization expense of $0.80 per share and a loss on the Wattyl divestiture of $0.34 per share.
On an adjusted basis, we expect full-year 2021 earnings per share of $8.80 to $9.07, an increase of 9% at the midpoint over the $8.19 we delivered in 2020.
Let me close with some additional data points that may be helpful for your modeling purposes.
We expect to see some contraction in full-year gross margin given the lag between price realization and the rapid and greater than expected increase in raw material costs.
As we capture price and inflation abates, we expect to see gross margin recover and then expand over time just as it has in the previous cycles.
We expect to see expansion of full year adjusted pre-tax margin as we leverage strong sales growth while controlling SG&A.
We will continue making investments across the enterprise that will enhance our ability to provide differentiated solutions to our customers.
We expect to return to our normal cadence with around 80 new store openings in the U.S. and Canada in 2021.
We'll also be focused on sales reps, capacity and productivity improvements, systems and product innovation.
We also plan additional incremental investments in our digital platform and the home center channel.
These investments are embedded in our full year guidance.
We expect foreign currency exchange will not have a material impact on sales for the full year.
We expect our 2021 effective tax rate to be in the low 20% range.
We expect full-year depreciation to be approximately $280 million and amortization to be approximately 300 million.
The capex and interest expense guidance we provided last quarter remains unchanged.
We have $25 million of long-term debt due in 2021.
We expect to increase the dividend by 23.5% for the full year.
We expect to continue making opportunistic share repurchases.
We will also continue to evaluate acquisitions that fit our strategy.
We're off to a great start in 2021 with our excellent first quarter performance.
Our team is operating with momentum and energized by the many opportunities in front of us as the recovery gains strength.
We see demand remaining strong over the remainder of the year and nobody is better equipped to provide differentiated customer solutions than Sherwin-Williams.
We're confident in our ability to manage through transitory raw material availability and cost inflation issues and we expect to deliver another year of excellent results.

user
compname reports q1 earnings per share of $1.51.
sees fy earnings per share $7.66 to $7.93.
q1 adjusted earnings per share $2.06.
q1 earnings per share $1.51.
q1 sales rose 12.3 percent to $4.66 billion.
sees fy 2021 adjusted net income per share $8.80 - $9.07.

assistant