Sherwil-Williams Co. $312 - New York symbol SHW

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. $312 (New York symbol SHW; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 92.5 million; Market cap: $28.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.sherwin-williams.com) recently agreed to acquire rival paint maker Valspar Corp. (New York symbol VAL). The combined company would be the world’s largest paint maker, with annual sales of $15.6 billion.

Sherwin is paying $9.3 billion in cash. If you include Valpar’s debt, the price rises to $11.3 billion.

Valspar’s shareholders recently approved the takeover. The deal still needs regulatory approvals, but Sherwin expects to complete the purchase by March 31, 2017.

Big acquisitions like this add risk. Also, the company will have to borrow the cash it needs for this purchase. That will push up its debt to around $13 billion, or a high 45% of its market cap.

Sherwin-Williams is a hold.

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