10/29/2025

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

3%, or 2%, excluding the impacts of our divestiture of Kichler and favorable currency. Our divestiture of Kichler in the third quarter of 2024 resulted in a decrease in sales by 3% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2025, while currency represented a 1% increase in sales. In local currency, North American sales decreased 6%, or 2%, excluding the divestiture impact. International sales were in line with the prior year in local currency. Gross margin of 34.6% in the quarter was impacted by higher tariffs and commodity costs. SG&A decreased $16 million, primarily due to our divestiture. SG&A as a percent of sales improved 20 basis points to 18.4% in the quarter. Operating profit was $312 million in the quarter. and our margin was 16.3%. Operating profit was impacted by lower volume and higher costs, primarily related to tariffs, commodities, and inventory-related reserves. Note that the temporarily elevated tariffs of 145% on China imports added approximately $15 million to the overall tariff impact in the third quarter, primarily in the plumbing segment. These impacts were partially offset by pricing actions and cost savings initiatives. Our EPS was 97 cents per share in the quarter. Turning to slide nine, plumbing sales increased 2% in the third quarter, or 1% excluding the favorable impact of currency. This growth was largely driven by pricing, which increased sales by 3%, partially offset by lower volume. In local currency, North American plumbing sales increased 1% in the quarter. This performance was primarily driven by Delta Faucet, which delivered growth in both the e-commerce and trade channels. In local currency, international plumbing sales were in line with the prior year. Hansgrohe continued to see growth in many of its European markets, including its key market of Germany. This growth was offset primarily due to an increasingly challenging market in China. Segment operating profit in the third quarter was $204 million, and operating margin was 16.4%. Operating profit was impacted by lower volume and higher costs, such as tariffs, commodities, and inventory-related reserves, partially offset by pricing action and cost savings initiatives. Turning to slide 10, decorative architectural sales decreased 12% in the third quarter, or 6%, excluding the divestiture of Kichler. Performance in the quarter was driven by lower volume in our paint business as well as our builders' hardware business, which also was unfavorably impacted by timing of shipments. In the quarter, total paint sales decreased low single digits due to lower volume. Pro paint sales were up low single digits, and DIY paint sales decreased mid-single digits. Given the persistent softness in the overall DIY paint market and the favorable inventory timing we experienced in the fourth quarter of last year, We continue to anticipate our total paint sales for the full year to decrease mid single digits. Excluding the impact of the prior year inventory timing benefit, we would anticipate full year DIY paint sales to decrease high single digits. In our propane business, we continue to expect sales to increase mid single digits for the full year. Operating profit in the third quarter was $128 million, primarily impacted by lower volume, partially offset by cost savings initiatives. Operating profit margin increased 100 basis points to 19.1%. Turning to slide 11, our balance sheet remained strong, with gross debt to EBITDA at two times at quarter end. We ended the quarter with $1.6 billion of liquidity, including cash, and availability under a revolving credit facility. Working capital was 18.5% of sales at quarter end. Working capital continues to be impacted by tariff related dynamics, including higher material costs and pricing, increasing our working capital balances. Given our strong cash generation, we returned $188 million to shareholders in the third quarter through dividends and share repurchases, including the repurchase of $124 million in stock. As it relates to capital allocation, we now expect to deploy approximately $500 million towards share repurchases or acquisitions in 2025, slightly higher than our previous expectation of at least $450 million. This increase is driven by a cash tax benefit from the recently enacted tax legislation. Now let's turn to slide 12 and review our full year outlook. the market environment remains volatile and tariff uncertainty persists. The guidance that is being provided today includes the impact of currently enacted tariffs, in effect in October, which now includes new tariffs on copper, anti-dumping duties on glass, and increases to global reciprocal tariffs, particularly on Vietnam, Thailand, and the European Union. As a result of these additional tariffs, we now estimate that the total annualized cost impact of all incremental tariffs enacted this year to be approximately $270 million before mitigation, up from $210 million as of our second quarter earnings call. Of the $270 million annualized cost impact, approximately $140 million continues to be related to the incremental 30% China tariffs. And the remaining $130 million is driven by the global reciprocal tariffs, the 50% tariff on steel, aluminum, and copper, and the glass anti-dumping duties. Of this approximately $270 million total annual cost, we expect a 2025 in-year impact of approximately $150 million before mitigation, up from $140 million as of our second quarter call. Our teams continue to actively work to mitigate these additional costs through a combination of levers. These include cost reductions, continued efforts to change our sourcing footprint, and pricing where necessary. We anticipate that these mitigation actions will mostly offset the direct cost impact of the currently enacted tariffs in 2025. It is important to note that our guidance does not attempt to estimate the impact of potential future tariffs or any changes in existing tariffs. Turning to the overall market, our expectation continues to be that the U.S. and international repair and remodel markets will decrease low single digits in 2025. For Masco, we expect our sales in 2025 to decrease low single digits impacted by the 2024 divestiture of Kichler, which will reduce sales by approximately 2% year over year. We anticipate currency will have a favorable impact of approximately 1%. Excluding the impact of our divestiture and currency, we now anticipate Masco's overall sales to be down low single digits versus our prior guidance of roughly flat year over year. given continued industry softness with lower volumes, partially upset with pricing. As a reminder, fourth quarter sales will face a challenging year over year comparison due to the favorable inventory timing impact we experienced in our paint business in the fourth quarter of last year. We now anticipate total company operating margin to be approximately 16.5% in 2025, versus our previous guide of 17%, driven by slightly lower volume, impacts of additional tariffs, and higher costs. In our plumbing segment, we continue to expect 2025 full year sales to be up low single digits. We now anticipate the full year plumbing margin will be approximately 18% versus our previous guide of 18.5%. In our decorative architectural segment, We continue to expect 2025 sales to decrease low double digits or mid single digits, excluding the impact of our divestiture. We also continue to anticipate the full year decorative architectural margin to be approximately 18%. Finally, as John mentioned earlier, our 2025 EPS estimate is $3.90 to $3.95 per share. This continues to assume a $211 million average diluted share count for the year and a 24.5% effective tax rate. With that, I would like to open up the call for questions. Operator?

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate, We would like to request that you please limit yourself to asking one question and one follow-up during the Q&A session. Thank you. And to ask a question, please press star then number one on your telephone keypad. And to withdraw from your question queue, please press star followed by two. Please go ahead, press star one now. And your first question will be coming from Stephen Kim at Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.

speaker
Stephen Kim
Evercore ISI Analyst

Hey, guys, it's Steve. Thanks very much for all the color. We do have a tariff question, but I wanted to start off actually on the paint side. There was a competitor who talked about a price increase going in Jan 1. I was wondering if you could sort of talk about how that might influence your outlook for pricing as we get into the new year on DeckArc. And maybe you can talk just generally about how – Given the relationship you have with Depot, how do you think about pricing relative to competitor actions?

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Steve, it's John. Thanks for the question. We certainly have a unique relationship with Home Depot. It spans 40 plus years, incredibly strong. As you mentioned, we do have a relationship. It's essentially price cost neutrality over time. As we look at our deck, particularly our paint, Input costs we see some upward pressure, but but not significant so at this point again We'll continue to have private conversations with our retail partner, but I wouldn't expect to see Significant pricing on paint as we move into the coming year Okay, that's very helpful appreciate that If you want to jump in on the tariff, yeah, I'm just want to clarify on the tariffs um you know when all all said is said and done kind of longer-term and

speaker
Stephen Kim
Evercore ISI Analyst

impact to plumbing margins from tariffs? Like, how do you see that, given that price action will mostly mitigate tariffs dollar for dollar? It's kind of more of a longer-term question on plumbing.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, sure. Good morning. Well, from a tariff perspective, as we've all realized here, it's a relatively volatile and dynamic environment. And so based off of the current tariffs enacted as of October, we articulated it's about a $270 million annualized impact And we're tackling that on a number of fronts from a mitigation standpoint. First and foremost, from a sourcing footprint standpoint, particularly sourcing out of China, where our largest exposure exists to other markets. Also, reducing costs and sharing that tariff impact with our suppliers. And third is pricing, as you alluded to. Those are levers that we continue to pull. And our objective is To not only offset the dollar cost of the of the terrorists, but ultimately the margin implications over time. So, obviously, we've got to track and monitor the situation closely based off of where we sit today. Our expectation is that we'll continue to work towards mitigating. As we mentioned in our comments, we've, we've mitigated a large part of the terrorists, not all, but a large part of the terrorists here in this, this calendar year. And certainly our objective as we move into 2026 is to mitigate. further as well as start working to build margins. So we're continuing to focus on the mitigation and working to restore our margins over time.

speaker
Stephen Kim
Evercore ISI Analyst

Great. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Matthew Boulay at Barclays. Please go ahead.

speaker
Matthew Boulay
Barclays Analyst

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the questions. I wanted to ask one, I guess, kind of zooming into the plumbing margins and I guess the 3Q result specifically. I think you guys had previously signaled that there would be some of that impact from the 145% tariffs. And so, I mean, I guess that played out. But the question is, was there anything else that was effectively a surprise versus your own expectations? Did any of those incremental tariffs that were coming in the summer end up sneaking into the quarter there as an impact or just any other cost that ended up surprising you? Thank you.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Matt. Good morning. It's Rick. As it pertains to our Q3 results, I would say it was impacted really by three drivers. One is tariffs, as you articulated. There were incremental tariffs since our Q2 call, as you articulated. But those that took our in-year impact from 140 to 150 million, but that incremental 10 million of in-year impact is really going to be a Q4 event. So those were new tariffs since our Q2 call. And so that factors into our updated guidance for the year. But that's really a Q4 dynamic. As you also alluded to, within the tariff realm, we did experience that elevated tariff impact on 145% on China imports. That was about a $15 million impact in Q3 specifically. And that was, as we alluded to in Q2, something that we anticipated, but did manifest itself in Q3. The second driver is with regards to overall softness in the industry. And so, you know, we do believe that the industry, both North American and international, is going to be down low single digits. We're really coming in from an industry perspective on the lower end of that range. And so that was a bit of an impact as we go through Q3, as well as the calendar outlook. And then fourth were incremental, I'm sorry, third was incremental cost, both with regards to commodity inputs, particularly on copper that continues to be elevated, as well as the inventory related reserves, which really was an update in our assumptions based off of market conditions that we, as we generally review our reserves on a quarterly basis, we just had a higher than typical adjustment in the quarter. So that would be really the drivers behind our margin performance in the quarter.

speaker
Matthew Boulay
Barclays Analyst

Okay, got it. Thank you for that, Rick. I guess secondly, I wanted to touch on the builder's hardware business since I guess paint and coatings is only down low single digits overall. I think I heard you say there was some unfavorable inventory timing. I'm wondering if there was maybe a pre-buy there earlier in the year or just kind of more elasticity, you know, related to price increases in that category. Presumably, it would have been a fairly large move in that business to impact the segment as it did. So just any more color on exactly what's going on there. Thank you.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Matt. It's Rick. Yeah, so as it pertains to the builder's hardware business, it was impacted by softness in sales, as we saw really across the industry. But as we mentioned in our opening comments, there was a bit of a shipping timing dynamic. It was really due to a planned shipping process change in the quarter so we curtailed our shipments during the quarter in order to effectuate the change so it is something that we noted in our talking points but we do not believe that it would be a significant impact for the calendar year overall all right perfect thanks guys good luck next question will be from michael we hope at jp morgan please go ahead uh great uh thanks so much uh

speaker
Michael Hoff
J.P. Morgan Analyst

First question, I just wanted to clarify on the margins, plumbing margins for the third quarter. Given that some of that was already anticipated, the 145%, was the delta perhaps versus expectations a little more driven by the inventory related reserves? or were there other factors also at work? Because I think the overall more recent tariff changes, I think you said, was more of a 4Q event.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, sure, Mike. You're right. As it pertains to our expectations coming into the quarter, we did have contemplated the elevated China tariff, so that was part of our expectation. I'm not sure if it was We contemplated all in Q3 in terms of external expectations, but certainly we had contemplated that internally. As it pertains to development since our second quarter call, I would say there were two. One is the inventory-related adjustments that we alluded to, and second is just softer sales, particularly in certain markets like China, that came in from an industry perspective lower than we had anticipated.

speaker
Michael Hoff
J.P. Morgan Analyst

Okay, perfect. And then in terms of the overall full year sales guidance, I believe last quarter you had consolidated sales still down low single digits, similar to what you have in this updated guide. But it seems like perhaps you're now kind of talking towards the lower end of that guide or lower end of that down low to single digit range. Just wanted to make sure I also have that right. And, you know, again, just to kind of, and I apologize if I kind of hit on this earlier, but just to be clear, you know, which segment that's really coming from, if part of that is the builder hardware or, you know, maybe a little bit softer trends in plumbing, as you just alluded to, international or North America, you know, just a little bit more granularity around that.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Mike. Yeah, your observation is directionally correct. Ultimately, we see the industry coming in a bit lower, kind of on the lower end of our range. You know, as expressed in EPS, we are coming in at the lower end of our range that we've publicized in our Q2 earnings call. And part of that is driven based off of lower industry expectations. And it's relatively across the board. I would say that it does impact the plumbing segment, as we mentioned, particularly China. but also impacts our builders' hardware as well as our DIY paint. So not dramatic changes, but the industry is a bit softer, really at the lower end of our expectations. As it pertains to our underlying performance, I would classify that as pretty solid, meaning that we're continuing to perform in line or in many categories better than the overall industry. It's just the overall industry softness that continues to be relatively weak.

speaker
Michael Hoff
J.P. Morgan Analyst

Great. Thanks so much.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Mike Dahl at RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

speaker
Mike Dahl
RBC Capital Markets Analyst

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Just some clarifying questions on tariffs. I guess just to be clear on China, it seems like, you know, you're still at call it 450 to 500 million of underlying costs of goods sold. So, you know, there's been discussions and the last couple of days about the tariffs getting reduced by maybe 10%. Is it right to think about that as a $50 million annualized impact if that came to fruition in terms of that 140 million going to something more like 90 to 95 million? And then the second part of the question would be if you could just break out what's like within that other 130, can you just specify what the global reciprocal bucket is versus the steel, aluminum, copper, and anti-dumping?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Mike. Your math on the first question is directionally correct. As we've articulated in the past, our annual import exposure from China is 450 million. On a 30% tariff from China, that represented about 140 million of impact. So, you know, hypothetically speaking, if there were a change in tariffs, whether it's plus or minus, you can extrapolate from there. As it pertains to your second question, we're not going to provide a detailed breakdown in terms of the composition of our exposures in the quote-unquote other bucket. It is really a composition of reciprocal tariffs, Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper, as well as the glass anti-dumping duties. And part of it is it's a dynamic environment. And so as we continue to modify our sourcing footprint, as we move out of China into other markets and we continue to manage and work aggressively to mitigate our tariff exposure, those underlying exposures will change and update over time. What we will do and we will continue to do is provide the investment community with an overview in terms of the financial implications split between China and pretty much everything else as we've done this quarter. And then from an annualized perspective, as we've articulated, we have a 270 million annualized exposure, or I'm sorry, impact. 140 is China, 130 is everything else. And we'll continue to provide updates if and as things change in our quarterly reviews.

speaker
Mike Dahl
RBC Capital Markets Analyst

Okay, understood. That's so helpful. My second question is just specifically on pain. I understood that you've got the, you know, the comp dynamic. The fourth quarter, it still implies like a pretty big step down in margins in the fourth quarter versus what's been really solid, you know, like 2Q, 3Q performance despite the offline challenges. So I'm just wondering if there's anything else there. in the fourth quarter, aside from just comping against that road end that would be driving that margin down so much.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, nothing particularly of note. What I would say is the biggest driver on a year-over-year basis in terms of top line and margin, I know you're talking about Q4 specifically, is regards to the unfavorable comparison relative to the impact of the favorable channel inventory bill that we experienced in Q4 of 2024. So that is really the biggest driver from a year-over-year basis.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Okay. Thank you. Next question will be from Sam Reed at Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

speaker
Sam Reed
Wells Fargo Analyst

Thanks, everyone. Wanted to touch on plumbing price in a little bit more detail, the 3% you reported. Could you just characterize kind of where that landed relative to your expectations? I know you had, obviously, larger price increase in the market. So just curious kind of what you got on a realization standpoint versus what you were expecting to get. And then as you look to the fourth quarter, just the guidance contemplate a step up in plumbing price sequentially. You know, just want to maybe understand that Q4 dynamic as well on price in plumbing. Thanks.

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Yes, this is John. Maybe I'll start and then Rick can jump in as well. I would say that pricing and plumbing primarily played out according to plan and what we expected. If you think big picture, obviously, significant increases in tariffs versus what we thought at the beginning of the year. And the team, particularly at Delta, which is the most impacted business, have done really a remarkable job of mitigating tariffs. And it really starts with making sure that we optimize our footprint. We've been doing that over time. We have a 40% or 45% reduction versus 2018. We'll continue there. Working with our suppliers on concessions, look at our own cost structure and making sure that we optimize that. And ultimately, as a last resort, we will take pricing, and we did take pricing throughout this year. I would say it's executed according to plan, and we'll continue to look at what we need to do as we move into the coming year as well. In terms of Q4, I'll let Rick cover that.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Sam, in terms of sequentially, as you would expect, our mitigation actions take hold over time, really from a pricing, cost reduction, and sourcing standpoint. But you'd expect that our pricing being one of the levers to continue to get increased traction over time. And I guess I'll leave it at that.

speaker
Sam Reed
Wells Fargo Analyst

And that helps. And then one more plumbing related question here. You called out strong Delta performance in two channels, e-commerce and trade. I might have missed, but how did Delta perform in home center? And perhaps can you talk through kind of how you trended in home center relative to the broader category. Thanks.

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, Delta in particular had a very strong quarter driven by e-commerce where we saw nice growth. Our wholesale channel grew kind of low single digits and we saw relatively flat, maybe slightly down performance in retail. And we look to the coming year. We were excited about the plans we have coming. We believe that we'll be driving even stronger results in retail as we hit 2026. But yeah, No major bogeys from a plumbing standpoint. Again, strength in e-commerce, wholesale, and then relatively flat in retail.

speaker
Sam Reed
Wells Fargo Analyst

Appreciate the call. Thanks, guys.

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from John Lavelle at UBS. Please go ahead.

speaker
John Lavelle
UBS Analyst

Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. There's a couple of factors impacting the back half. One of them you talked about on the inventory side, but just wanted to get a little bit more clarity, if I could, on the lower employee-related costs that are not expected to repeat in the back half. So curious, you know, what was the third quarter impact of that and what's the expected fourth quarter impact?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, John, you're referring to a comment that we made in the Q2 call, correct?

speaker
John Lavelle
UBS Analyst

Correct, yeah.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. So, from an employee related, yeah, you're correct. Um, we did have a favorable benefit in Q2. Um, you know, we continue from a cost perspective to be very disciplined on cost, particularly given the current environment and managing people costs as well as other costs that continues to be a priority for us. So we didn't have a repeat of the one time item, so to speak that we, we benefited from in Q2, but devices to say we're continuing to drive. efficiencies, cost reductions, et cetera, and throughout the business just to drive operational efficiencies.

speaker
John Lavelle
UBS Analyst

Okay. And then maybe just to follow on to that, you know, maybe outside of some of the tariff mitigation actions, you know, what are some of the cost savings initiatives being taken in both segments, you know, to help kind of lower the cost basis? And, you know, what do you expect from the impact of that on a go-forward basis?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. So, John, we continue, I know you've heard us talk about before, leverage our mass cooperating system to continue to drive productivity and efficiency. And so that is productivity in our plants, supply chain efficiencies, procurement, cost savings. I know we talk about tariff mitigation, but we also are working on driving cost efficiencies throughout our sourcing footprint. We talk about automation, BAVE. And in this year in particular, we're looking at more austerity measures as it pertains to to headcount and discretionary spend. So really a combination of all those factors. And it's not isolated to a particular segment. It's really across our businesses.

speaker
John Lavelle
UBS Analyst

Got it. Thank you, guys.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you. Next question will be from Trevor Allison at Wolf Research. Please go ahead.

speaker
Trevor Allison
Wolfe Research Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. You mentioned seeing some input cost inflation. more input cost inflation you expected in plumbing, call that metals. Can you just put some numbers around what inflation rates you're seeing in your plumbing business in the third quarter and what you're expecting for the fourth quarter?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Trevor. It's Rick. So, yes, we are seeing some upward pressure, particularly on the copper input. And as you may recall, in Q2, I believe it was at a record high, at least on the COMEX. So it continues to be a headwind for us from an overall input perspective. And we continue to manage it from a cost standpoint. But ultimately, to answer your question, it was a low single-digit inflationary impact in Q3 in plumbing, and we expect a similar low single-digit inflation for the calendar year for the plumbing segment.

speaker
Trevor Allison
Wolfe Research Analyst

Okay, that's helpful. And then a question on DIY paints. Obviously, they've been weak for some time now after being very robust during the pandemic. Now we've had several years of DIY paint declines. Can you talk about where you think we are in terms of pull forward versus deferral? And do you think DIY paint is a category that can get back to growth in fiscal 26?

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, Trevor, this is John. We really like our DIY paint business. Obviously, the strength of Bayer over time. DIY paint correlates heavily to existing home sales. And as you know, existing home sales are at near three decade lows right now. If you think about it, it's pretty simple. When you go to sell a house, you typically paint it. When you buy a house, you typically paint it again. So without existing home sales moving at the pace that they have historically, that's really put a dent in the market. We expect the long-term fundamentals to get better for sure as existing home sales free up and start selling at more historical rates. I think consumer confidence and interest rates will help with that. And at the same time, we're excited about our pro business. When you think about The upside that we have there, we have a relatively low share. We've grown nicely over time, and it's approaching nearly 50% of our business at Bayer. So, again, we think that we can continue to drive DIY, and at the same time, we think there's a significant opportunity on pro as we work with our retail partner to really maximize that.

speaker
Trevor Allison
Wolfe Research Analyst

Thank you for all the color, and good luck moving forward. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Trevor.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Susan McCleary at Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Thank you.

speaker
Susan McCleary
Goldman Sachs Analyst

Good morning, everyone.

speaker
Sam Reed
Wells Fargo Analyst

Morning.

speaker
Susan McCleary
Goldman Sachs Analyst

Good morning. My first question is going back to Delta, you cited the strength that you're seeing in e-commerce and the wholesale channel there. Can you talk a bit about what is driving that strength? the outlook, the ability to sustain that, and what that could mean for volume and price mix in the plumbing segment next year if the macro does stay tougher?

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

So this is John. Maybe just a little color on Delta. As I mentioned, really pleased with that team and the results of their driving. I think it starts with they do a great job of building the Delta brand as well as the Brezo brand and all the different brands in our portfolio and really making them stand for something within consumers. Innovation has been a big part of the Delta story, sort of vitality rate, which is new products launched over the last three years at 25%, which we think is industry leading and will continue to drive that and drive even more innovation as we move forward. And then really developing great capabilities from an e-commerce standpoint. We believe that we're growing share in that channel at a pretty significant rate just due to the capabilities and really the customer insight that we have with different retailers and different e-commerce companies. customers in that channel. So my team is really firing in all cylinders. We would expect that momentum to continue as we move into fiscal 26.

speaker
Susan McCleary
Goldman Sachs Analyst

Okay. And then turning to capital allocation, you mentioned that you are increasing the outlook for returning cash to shareholders by 50 million for the year. Can you talk a bit about, you know, the timing of that and also what you're seeing in terms of other uses of cash, such as the M&A environment and the potential there?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Sue, it's Rick. Yeah, as you mentioned, we did increase our expectation for cash available for share buybacks or M&A activity from about $450 million to $500 million. A big component of that was the favorable cash tax benefit from the recently enacted tax bill. So that was a favorable impact and we are increasing our cash available for share buybacks and M&A accordingly. What I would say is as it pertains to the terms of timing, Through the first three quarters of the year, we've returned just over $350 million to shareholders, and so you could envision that about $150 million remains for the fourth quarter. As it pertains to M&A activity, no change in terms of our overall capital allocation framework and our strategy in that regard. We continue to cultivate a pipeline of opportunities, focus really on bolt-on opportunities, and nothing to report at this time, but certainly something that we that we look at as part of our overall growth algorithm. To the extent we do not have an opportunity this year, you would expect us to utilize that cash for ongoing share repurchases.

speaker
Susan McCleary
Goldman Sachs Analyst

Okay. Thank you for the coloring. Good luck with the quarter.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Great. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Phil Ng at Jefferies. Please go ahead.

speaker
Maggie
Jefferies Analyst

Hey, guys. This is Maggie on for Phil. I guess first just maybe to ask the plumbing pricing question a little differently. It was kind of surprising to see a similar pace, you know, that 3% and 3Q, similar to 2Q just given the tariff mitigation efforts and, you know, the magnitude of pricing you have out there. So are you seeing more pressure from competitive dynamics or just pricing fatigue from customers? Maybe just walk us through that. some of the puts and takes there.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Maggie. It's Rick. So I think Sam asked a similar question from a sequential standpoint. So our price, as you articulated, was about 3% favorable from a plumbing segment perspective, and that is as our pricing continues to gain traction in the market. So I'm not going to get into specifics on Q4 at this point, but suffice it to say we're gaining traction. As it pertains to the overall dynamics, it's something that we're monitoring very closely, as John articulated, There's a number of levers that we pull with regards to our tariff mitigation and to address our margin headwinds, which are sourcing footprint changes, cost reductions, and, as necessary, pricing. So we will leverage the pricing component of that, but it's something that we do in a very targeted way, and we look for a balanced approach overall. But I guess the bottom line is we continue to see pricing as a favorable impact on a year-over-year basis, but it's largely going to be driven based off of our need to mitigate the tariff impact as well as our assessment of the overall market dynamic.

speaker
Maggie
Jefferies Analyst

Got it. And are there, you know, any nuances to call out between channels in terms of realization or, you know, acceptance by channel? And then thinking ahead, you know, you have this January price increase

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

announced out there you know what have you seen this year that's kind of influencing how we should think about realization on on that in 2026. yeah so maggie we're not going to comment with regards to specific channel pricing performance that's just something that we we manage with our customers as it pertains to anything that might be out there as it pertains to future pricing i'm not going to really comment on that either that's something that would be kind of in in development. And so, again, I would just take a step back and just look at it from the standpoint of pricing continues to be one of the levers that we deploy in terms of mitigating our tariffs, as well as other impacts such as commodity inflation, et cetera. And that's something that we're going to continue to focus on and execute against.

speaker
Maggie
Jefferies Analyst

All right. Thanks, guys.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Maggie.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Adam Baumgarten at Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.

speaker
Adam Baumgarten
Vertical Research Partners Analyst

Hey, good morning everyone. Just on the timing related issues in builders hardware, which is obviously a headwind in the third quarter, I think you mentioned that maybe it wouldn't be much of an impact for the full year. So would that imply that 4Q those shipments kind of go through and therefore the full year won't be as impacted?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Adam, directionally that is correct. So it was a Q3 adverse impact, but for the overall year we don't expect it to be a significant impact. So I guess that that would be a fair conclusion.

speaker
Adam Baumgarten
Vertical Research Partners Analyst

Okay, got it. Thanks. And then just in plumbing, just on China, you talked about that being a headwind. It seemed like maybe a bigger headwind than it's been in prior quarters. If you maybe kind of walk through what you're seeing on the ground over there.

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, Adam, for sure. So the market itself has been challenged. And I think obviously you read about the housing market and what's happening in China. At the same time, I think local players have become much stronger as well. So between those two things, The market itself is challenging, and I think the competitive situation is challenging as well. I'll tell you that we feel like we are holding up at least as well and probably better than our other major global competitors that are in that market. We still like that market. It's a significant market for us, and we think over time we'll be able to get back to growth. But it has been a bit more of a headwind, certainly a Q3 than what we had seen through the first half of the year.

speaker
Robins
Vice President, Investor Relations

Great. Thanks a lot. Best of luck.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Keith Hughes, a tourist. Please go ahead.

speaker
Keith Hughes
Analyst

Thank you. Just a question on the inventory reserves you discussed in plumbing. Are you writing off obsolete inventory or what specifically is going on and how much of a dollar head is that?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Keith, it's Rick. So as part of our normal process, we review our balance sheet reserves on a quarterly basis as you anticipate. We make adjustments quarter to quarter based off of the assumptions in place at the time. And it's really driven based off this quarter, based off of the overall market environment and really the slow pace of the industry sales, et cetera. And so we do have adjustments, as you would expect, kind of quarter to quarter. This quarter was bigger than typical, so we've called it out, particularly given it hit our plumbing segment and one of the drivers in terms of our margin. Although we wouldn't expect this to occur kind of on a regular basis, it was something that we felt appropriate to call out for Q3. As it pertains to overall magnitude, I'm not going to give you a specific dollar amount, Keith, but I could dimension it a little bit for you. And I would say on a year-over-year basis, if we look at whether it's operating profit or operating profit margin, it represented about a quarter of the performance impact on a year-over-year basis. Does that help? Okay.

speaker
Keith Hughes
Analyst

Okay. And is there a cash offset to this that comes? Or is this a non-cash element?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

This would be non-cash. Non-cash. Okay.

speaker
Mike Dahl
RBC Capital Markets Analyst

All right. Thank you.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Eric Bossard at Cleveland Research. Please go ahead.

speaker
Eric Bossard
Cleveland Research Analyst

Thanks. Good morning. Two follow-ups. On the DIY pain, I understand the softer sales, the down 79 and the market, overall R&R market that's not that bad, that you're linking that to housing turnover. I'm curious if strategically there's anything different to do in this business to drive better growth. Obviously, you're having success with the

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

pro initiative at depot but on the diy side is there anything strategically different to do to stimulate better performance yeah so this is john i have a good question i think at the end of the day um you know i think the biggest thing we can do to drive our business continue to drive a better brand and bear paints has amazing quality and we offer great value as well and i think we can get even tighter in terms of our communication of why we have such a great proposition for our consumers I think the other thing we can do is continue to innovate. As I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we're launching some innovation we're excited about, some plant-based paint that's obviously very much in trend with younger consumers and millennials, and we think that'll be a positive for us as well. We are with the right partner that's obviously going to need to do well in market, and we continue to work with them to make sure we maximize our sales. I think for us, though, again, I think getting tighter on our messaging from a brand standpoint really around value and quality, because we think by far we've got the best proposition in the industry.

speaker
Eric Bossard
Cleveland Research Analyst

And then for Delta, your comments were optimistic about retail 26 growth. I'm curious if there's anything in the business or from a market share perspective that informs that, or if this is more a function of lower rates and at some point consumers will spend money. Just trying to figure that out.

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, great question. As you would likely imagine, we have a good sight line in this 2026 in terms of our plans with our major retailers. And without going into details, we feel really great about where we're going to be from a distribution standpoint. We feel really good about our innovation that we're launching as well. And we would fully expect to have a very strong year at retail in 2026 as a result of those plans that are in place. Thanks. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Any further questions, Eric?

speaker
Eric Bossard
Cleveland Research Analyst

No, thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Rafe Jadrasek at Bank of America. Please go ahead, Rafe.

speaker
Rafe Jadrasek
Bank of America Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to just get a little bit of a better understanding about the timing of when tariffs like hit your P&L and the cadence of the mitigation. So, obviously, you have to work through some of the inventory that maybe came in pre-tariff. So, like, how much of that of the impact is being, like, in your P&L today, and how do we think about that going forward? And then, sort of, same question on, like, the mitigation that you're planning. How do we think about the cadence of that?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Ray, if it's Rick. So, as it pertains to the cadence of the tariff impact, as we've articulated in prior calls, that we fully expect most of that impact. We know that most of the impact is going to occur in the second half of the year. And so that's why, as you saw in Q3, the tariff impact really gets kind of traction in our P&L. We did see some in Q2, but the vast majority is in Q3 and Q4. As articulated, we did have incremental or additional tariff impacts in Q3 given the temporarily elevated China tariffs at 145%. That translated into a $15 million additional tariff impact in Q3. Now that is hopefully one time in nature as it pertains to the tariff dynamics. As you think about on a prospective basis, that's why we give the annualized tariff impact. And our annualized tariff impact is $270 million. So you can think of that as a run rate basis on a calendar year basis. We saw, again, most all that in the second half, thus the $150 million in the second half of the year, inclusive of the $15 million that I talked about. But $270 million is how we think about it going forward. I would caution, of course, that obviously we continue to be in a dynamic environment from a geopolitical standpoint. And so that estimate of 270 million is based off of really a static picture of not only the tariff environment, but our footprint. And we'll continue to provide updates in terms of our exposures as well as our tariff impact as we move quarter to quarter.

speaker
Rafe Jadrasek
Bank of America Analyst

Got it. Okay. And then would you, are you, is the plan to fully mitigate in 2026? And then of those, you listed a few things that you're shifting supply chain pricing. How do we think about the timing of that, of when you would be planning to fully mitigate?

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. So with regards to mitigation actions, those are all underway, and we're pursuing them very aggressively and expeditiously. And so each exposure has a different timeline. But ultimately, we would expect to, as we said before, offset a large part of the tariff impact this year, not all, but a large part. And really, our goal is to ultimately offset the tariff impact, not only from a dollar perspective, but also from a margin standpoint, based off of the tariff environment as we see it today and we would expect. And we'll provide more color on that in our February call in terms of our expectations for 2026 specifically. But one of the largest levers of our tariff mitigation strategy is our sourcing footprint. And that takes some time. It continues to be an exercise that the team has done an excellent job in terms of reducing our exposure specifically to China. As mentioned earlier in the Q&A section, our exposure to China is 450 million, but that's down 45% from levels of 2018. And we continue to be on that glide path and accelerate that. So we'll provide an update in terms of what that looks like in 2026 in our February call. But suffice to say, we're continuing to really execute toward the tariff mitigations and offset the dollar amount as well as margins over time. We'll provide further updates in February.

speaker
Rafe Jadrasek
Bank of America Analyst

Great.

speaker
Rick
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Next question will be from Colin Verin at Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

speaker
Colin Verin
Deutsche Bank Analyst

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Only just one for me. I guess on the plumbing side of the business, can you just talk about how long do you think this soft demand environment will really last here? And I guess if you're looking out over the next six to 12 months, what specific factors would you be looking for that would get you a little bit more excited about the demand environment?

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

John, I'm relatively new to this industry, as you know, but it's been consistent as I go out and talk to our customers, channel partners, suppliers. I think everyone feels like the rebound will come, the crystal ball. We don't have a crystal ball. We can't tell you when that is. But all the macro factors remain incredibly positive if you think about what drives R&R activity. It's really about home equity levels. We know that they're at record highs right now. We know the age of the housing stock in the U.S. is ripe for renovations, remodels. In fact, over the next few years, something like 20 million more homes will become into that prime point to be remodeled. That's 20 to 40 years of age. Um, and then I think it's about consumer confidence and interest rates. So I think if we see interest rates continue to take down consumer confidence and their economy increase, we'll see consumers tap into their, their home equity funds and start those remodels that have been deferring. So we're very confident about the long term. Um, obviously we don't have a crystal ball can't predict exactly what will happen. As we sit here, we're not going to talk too much about 2026 or certainly give guidance, but I think we would expect to see a gradual improvement in our markets as we move forward into the coming year.

speaker
Colin Verin
Deutsche Bank Analyst

Great. Thank you for the call, Aaron. Good luck. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Our last question comes from Anthony Pettinari at Citi. Please go ahead.

speaker
Anthony Pettinari
Citi Analyst

Good morning. I just had two quick ones on plumbing. I guess first, you know, how would you characterize the performance of kind of your best brands? You know, you talked about the strength in Delta. I'm just wondering how Breezo and Hansgrohe, are they still kind of outperforming the good, better, or is there like any change in that dynamic? And then I guess just second question, you know, sauna, wellness, you know, smaller part of the business, but I'm just curious how that category is performing and, in what's obviously been kind of a tough market, and do you see the growth opportunity there organically or inorganically maybe different than you did six months ago, 12 months ago?

speaker
John Sznewajs
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, absolutely. In terms of plumbing, we really like the way our brands are performing. When you look at upper premium and luxury, we've got brands like Friso as well as Newport Brass, Axor, which is our global luxury brand. And really, you know, we see a bifurcation in terms of the market. We're seeing the upper income consumers hold up relatively well. And actually, we're growing the fastest in upper premium and luxury. So really like the performance there. From a Hansgrohe standpoint, really like the way that they're performing around the world. Germany, in particular, the home market, they're growing nicely, taking a tremendous amount of share. And really, we believe growing share in most markets around the world. I mentioned China is definitely the soft spot for Hansgrohe, and that's something we'll continue to work on for sure. Really liked the way they were performing around the world from a plumbing standpoint. In terms of walk-ins, that's been a business that, again, we're really excited about the long-term opportunity for. When you look at wellness very much being on trend from a consumer standpoint, the low household penetration of our categories, if you think about hot tubs, only has five or six household penetration in North America. Asana is only 1% household penetration. And if you listen to what's happening in culture and society, you see and hear a lot of buzz around both of these, and particularly saunas are on fire right now. So we think there's a tremendous opportunity for us. We're the market leader in hot tubs in North America, and we can continue to push our advantage there. And we're a leader in sauna, and I think that's an area that will continue to drive us moving to the future. We think there's a lot of tremendous upside for that business for the short to long and long term as well.

speaker
Anthony Pettinari
Citi Analyst

Okay, that's very helpful.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you. At this time, we have no other questions registered. I would like to turn the call back over to Robins on the bench.

speaker
Robins
Vice President, Investor Relations

We'd like to thank all of you for joining us on the call this morning and for your interest in MASCO. That concludes today's call. Have a wonderful day.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we ask that you please disconnect your lines.

Disclaimer

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