Masco at Baird Conference: Strategic Focus Amid Challenges

On Wednesday, 12 November 2025, Masco Corporation (NYSE:MAS) presented at the Baird 55th Annual Global Industrial Conference. CFO Rick Westenberg discussed the company's strategic priorities, highlighting both achievements and challenges in a tough macroeconomic environment. Despite tariff impacts, Masco remains focused on growth and capital allocation strategies.

Key Takeaways

• Masco increased its cash allocation for share buybacks or M&A from $450 million to $500 million.
• The company is mitigating a $270 million annualized tariff impact through sourcing changes and cost reductions.
• Masco targets 3%-5% organic growth, leveraging its strong brand portfolio and exploring new ventures.
• A long-standing partnership with Home Depot is crucial, with Behr accounting for 80% of paint sales there.

Financial Performance and Capital Allocation

• Capital Allocation:

- Reinvesting 2%-2.5% of net sales into the business.

- Maintaining an investment-grade BBB credit rating.

- Targeting a 3% dividend payout ratio.

- Increased cash for share buybacks or M&A to $500 million.

• Growth Algorithm:

- Aiming for 3%-5% organic growth, supplemented by inorganic opportunities.

• Margin Targets:

- Intermediate targets of 20% in plumbing and 19%-20% in Decorative Architectural Products (DAP).

- Incremental margins between 25%-30%.

Tariffs and Mitigation

• Tariff Impact:

- Annualized impact of $270 million due to various tariffs.

• Mitigation Efforts:

- Reduced China import exposure by 45%.

- Implemented sourcing changes and cost reductions.

- Pricing adjustments to offset tariff impacts.

• Tariff Reduction:

- Recent 10% reduction in IEPA tariffs in China.

R&R Market Outlook

• Long-Term Growth:

- Positive on structural growth in the repair and remodel (R&R) segment, with expectations of 2%-4% growth.

• Market Dynamics:

- Deferred spending after a surge in demand during 2021 and early 2022.

• Growth Catalysts:

- Stability in consumer confidence and interest rates.

- Improved tariff environment.

AI Implementation

• Internal Use:

- Utilizing AI tools like Copilot for product development.

• Consumer-Facing Applications:

- Behr launched Chat Hue, an AI-driven color selection tool.

Home Depot and Behr Partnership

• Relationship:

- A 40-year symbiotic partnership with Home Depot.

- Behr represents 80% of paint sales at Home Depot.

• Pro Business:

- Investments in professional sales reps, delivery options, and loyalty programs.

• Pricing Strategy:

- Input cost-price neutrality with Home Depot, focusing on everyday low prices.

In conclusion, Masco's strategic initiatives and partnerships position it well for future growth, despite current economic challenges. For a more detailed account, refer to the full transcript below.

Full transcript - Baird 55th Annual Global Industrial Conference:

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: All right. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being here. I'm Tim Weiss. I cover building products here at Baird. And we're happy to have Masco join us again at our Global Industrial Conference. Masco is one of the world's largest manufacturers of plumbing and architectural coating products. From the company, we have CFO Rick Westenberg on stage with me. And then we have Robin Zondervan, who's VP of IR and FP&A in the front row over here. So we're just going to kind of have a fireside chat. Maybe I'll kind of throw it over to Rick and kind of maybe give us a little bit of the state of the union. Then we'll get into more specific questions.

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. Morning, Tim. Good morning, everybody. It's great to be back at the Baird Industrial Conference. As Tim mentioned, I'm the CFO here at Masco. I've been with the company for a couple of years. What I would say is, from an overall environment perspective, as I think we've all realized, it's been a bit of a challenging environment from an industry macro geopolitical environment standpoint. I would say, despite that backdrop, Masco in particular has performed well with regards to delivering solid performance, particularly from a share standpoint, maintaining or building share across many of our key segment areas, whether it's here in North America or international. We've got about 20% of our business outside of North America. We performed particularly well in Europe. What I would say, from a margin perspective, we've been able to demonstrate margin expansion despite a challenging environment.

2025 has been a bit more of a challenging year just from an overall industry perspective, given the tariff environment. I'm sure we'll talk more about that. What I would say is I'm really proud of what the team has done in terms of their execution to mitigate the tariff situation that we've all been faced with. We're continuing to make progress on that front as well.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: Great. I guess one of the things that we kind of get questions on with Masco is kind of what's next. There's been a lot of change over the past decade just in terms of the portfolio and kind of switching from an M&A-oriented business or organization to something that's doing a lot more buybacks and tuck-in acquisitions. You joined about two years ago. John just became CEO in July. Just kind of what are your kind of one or two key priorities over the next couple of years just to kind of create a more valuable company?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Sure. As you alluded to, Tim, over the last decade or so, Masco has done an exceptional job in terms of honing the portfolio, exiting items of the portfolio that were more susceptible to the cyclicality of the housing industry, exiting cabinets, windows, et cetera, and really honing the portfolio to areas that are more focused on the repair and remodel segment of the industry. That is primarily plumbing and within plumbing wellness, which we can talk more about, as well as decorative architectural products, which is coatings and building hardware. That has really been a success story as it pertains to kind of being very disciplined. What we have done over the last couple of years is really continue to focus on our capital allocation framework, which has not changed in quite a while.

What that is, just as a reminder to the audience, is first and foremost, we focus on reinvesting in the business. What that means typically is about 2%-2.5% of our net sales are invested in terms of capital. Second is an investment-grade credit rating. We have a solid BBB credit rating. We think that is very important to be able to make sure that we have access to the markets and be able to continue to invest in the business. Third is to have a relevant dividend. We target a 3% payout ratio. Fourth is return all available cash to shareholders or execute on M&A. We have been able to really execute against that. This year, in our Q3 earnings, we have increased the amount of cash available for share buybacks or M&A from $450 million to $500 million.

We continue to push on that lever. As you mentioned, Tim, in terms of our focus on an M&A perspective, it's really focused on areas of opportunities that would be within our core areas, so plumbing within that wellness and coatings business. That is really our focus. It is really more directed towards bolt-on M&A. We're not averse to a bigger transaction, but we see that there's more opportunity on the bolt-on side. That is what we've been executing as of late. Does that kind of address the question?

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess the other thing, just kind of your kind of long-term kind of growth algorithms, kind of 3%-5% organically, is there any kind of tweaks to that? Anything you can do? Are you kind of aligned with that target? Is John kind of aligned with that target? I know he was on the board beforehand.

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. Maybe for the benefit of the broader audience, our former CEO, Keith Allman, really led a lot of the transformation of the portfolio that I alluded to. After 11 successful years at the helm, he retired in July. We have a new CEO, John Nudi, who came off the Masco board. He had been on the board for a couple of years, so very much in tune and aligned with our overall strategic intent, our focus area, and our capital allocation. In terms of, as we look forward, kind of areas that we are focused on is continuing to drive operating performance. To your question in terms of growth, we have really kind of reconfirmed our growth algorithm of 3%-5% organic plus additional growth from inorganic opportunities.

Now, that 3%-5% is premised off of an industry growth over the long run of about 2%-4%. At the end of the day, our expectation is that we will leverage the fundamental strength and growth of the R&R industry and outperform the market in terms of delivering upon that growth.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. I mean, are there any ways that you or John see to kind of accelerate that outperformance? Or is there only so much kind of new product, new channel types of things that the market can bear on a kind of an annualized basis?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. I think, as I mentioned, the fundamentals of the industry are strong over the long run. I think in terms of leveraging when the industry does return to growth, it will be pivotal in terms of that growth algorithm. In addition to that, what John brings is kind of a more consumer products, sales-oriented perspective. He spent most all of his career at General Mills before joining Masco as the CEO. He brings that orientation and that focus really on digital capabilities, marketing, really leveraging the strengths and the assets that Masco has in his portfolio with regards to brands, products, service. Really driving growth in our core businesses, but also taking advantage of our brands in terms of opportunities for areas of the industry that are growing more significantly than others.

For example, the North America luxury and premium plumbing business. We are taking advantage of that through our Brizo and Newport Brass brands in addition to Hansgrohe and Axor. I was talking with somebody in the audience earlier with regards to Newport Brass, which is in the luxury space, which had traditionally been operated by one of our other business units. Earlier this year, we took the decision to roll that into the Delta business and leverage the Delta capabilities in terms of product development, relationships with the consumers, and really relaunch the Newport Brass brand. It has strong DNA, but had not had the advantage of the resources and the capabilities of, for example, a Delta business to really bring that forward. We have relaunched that brand. We are putting a lot of investment towards that because we see a big payoff.

As I think most everyone appreciates, the luxury and premium side of the business has held up more strongly and has a stronger growth profile. That is certainly an area. In addition, we also announced that we are looking into the water quality or water filtration. We launched a point of use under sink water filtration, reverse osmosis water filtration, which we think is, from a product capabilities, best in class, as well as a point of use in terms of shower filtration. Still early days, but both of those represent over a $1 billion TAM. They are great opportunities for us to continue to explore outsized growth relative to what we would expect to deliver in the core business.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. It's been about 10 minutes before I asked tariff questions.

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Appreciating that.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: Yeah. Maybe just could you elaborate kind of where we stand right now on tariffs, your mitigation plans between kind of pricing, supplier renegotiations, any sort of kind of capacity movement? Just kind of spend a minute kind of more broadly talking about the tariff mitigation strategy.

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Sure. The operative order there is right now. Because as we all appreciate, it's been a very dynamic environment. As I alluded to earlier, I'm really proud of what the team has delivered in terms of mitigation. Maybe to set the stage, effectively, Masco, like many of our competitors in our industry, are faced with the implications of tariffs. What we've disclosed is, as of October—and things have changed since October—but as of October, our in-year tariff impact is estimated at $150 million. Our annualized impact is about $270 million. That includes exposures to China tariffs, reciprocal tariffs on other countries, copper, steel, and aluminum tariffs, and glass anti-dumping duties. It's pretty broad in terms of the implications. Subsequent to October, that is, November 10, the IEPA tariffs in China were reduced by 10%.

Our annual exposure from China imports is about $450 million. We have enabled people to do the math in terms of the impact of what that benefit would be. Of course, it is a moving target, as I know we all appreciate. Right now, we are sitting at about $150 million in year and about $270 million, less potentially a 10% reduction from a China tariff on an annualized basis. In terms of mitigation, the team has pulled a number of levers. We basically have turned over every stone with regards to mitigation. We generally categorize the mitigation into three categories. One is sourcing footprint changes, principally moving sourcing out of China, which is exposed to the highest tariff impact. Second is cost reductions, including supplier concessions. Third is price. From a sourcing footprint perspective, we are on track.

One thing to note is this has been a journey. Obviously, since 2018, 2019, when tariffs were first introduced in the first administration, we've been on a journey to reduce our exposure to China. We've reduced our exposure about 45% to where it is today at the $450 million. We've accelerated those efforts. When we report our earnings and our guidance in February, we'll provide an update in terms of our exposure to China at that point. It's on a downward trajectory. We're on track. Second, from a cost perspective, that's something that we've been implementing. It's really part and parcel of our fundamentals of how we run the business at Masco, which is continuous improvement, driving operational efficiencies, cost reductions. Third is pricing. Pricing is a lever that we use judiciously with regards to our customers and our channel partners.

It is something that continues to be a focus. Through those efforts, we have been able to mitigate largely most all of the tariff impacts in 2025, so most but not all of the $150 million that I mentioned. As we go into 2026, our expectations across all those levers, again, given where we are right now, we would expect to be able to offset the tariffs and start working towards offsetting the margin impact that the tariffs have represented for our business.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. OK. I guess you've had to raise price was one of the levers to do that. I guess, has there been any volume elasticity because of that? How is that maybe tracked relative to your expectations?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. It's a good question. In terms of our price execution, it's on track with what our expectations have been. From an elasticity point, elasticity is something we take a look at. It's very difficult to measure even in normal, stable times, not to mention in an environment that we're currently facing where there's a lot of variables at play. What I would say is our team feels pretty confident that it has not adversely impacted our performance, meaning our share performance in our key segments have been in line with the market or, in some cases, better than. Relatively speaking, we've held our own. I think from an overall macro perspective, obviously, inflation and affordability are considerations. From an overall macro and industry perspective, I would surmise that there could be some impact.

As it pertains to our situation specifically, we've done it in a very, like I said, very judicious manner. We've been doing it in steps to be able to measure the progress. Right now, we're on track. We're not seeing any significant adverse impacts.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. I guess from kind of an overall kind of pricing philosophy, has anything changed in kind of how you approach pricing, how the industry approaches pricing? I mean, it's a relatively consolidated industry. Maybe there's some manufacturing kind of footprint differences or things like that. I mean, has anything kind of structurally changed in kind of the pricing environment within the fixture market?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: What I would say is over the last number of years—so historically, let me take a step back. Historically, pricing, particularly on the plumbing side of the business, has been low single digits. That has been kind of an annual process that the overall industry, Masco inclusive of that, has pursued. The last two to three years has been a bit abnormal with regards to the sourcing challenges that face the industry, the higher inflation, and of course, the tariffs. What we like about the—one of the things that we like about the industry in which we play in is it is a bit more consolidated. There are rational players in the industry. I am not going to speak to competitors or competitor actions per se.

I would say from our standpoint, the actions that we're taking are not too dissimilar to what we're seeing and expect others to be taking. It's just been that the headwinds with regards to commodity cost, inflation, and of course, tariffs have been higher than they've historically been. That has required more mitigation, including pricing, to be in effect.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. I guess you're 90% or so exposed to kind of repair, remodel. I guess how would you describe demand there trending into next year? I mean, you have replacement businesses, but you also need turnover. I mean, what is the stimulant or the catalyst to kind of get the R&R market back to growth? Did we pull forward demand, and we just need to kind of get to a point in time where we kind of resync that kind of replacement cycle? Is it turnover? Is it—what do you guys kind of think about this internally? What is the catalyst to kind of get the R&R market back?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. It's a good question. We don't have a crystal ball per se. What I would say, though, is, as I mentioned before, we're really bullish on the fundamentals of the business and the long-term structural growth in the R&R segment of the industry, really in that 2%-4% range. That's what it's been historically. We expect that's what it will return to. We've had, obviously, a dynamic over the last number of years where there was a dramatic pull forward of R&R demand with regards to the post-COVID era, really in 2021, early 2022, and a bit of a hangover effect as a consequence of that. Now we've entered what we believe is a period of deferred spending. Meaning that we've largely—it depends by category, but largely have burned through that pull forward effect and now are in the deferral section.

I think I would focus really on the long-term fundamentals and the growth that we would expect to see there. In terms of your specific question, Tim, as it pertains to a catalyst, I think stability, consumer confidence will be very helpful. I think stability in terms of the tariff environment. I think lower interest rates certainly will be helpful. We have seen some progress on the interest rate environment. It is still elevated versus where it had been. I think that will be a positive catalyst as it pertains to existing home sales and some metrics that are really at multi-year, if not multi-decade lows. I think before pivoting to growth, we need to see some stability as we go into 2026.

I often say it's not a matter of if, but when as it pertains to the return to growth. We are continuing to invest in the business, continuing to focus on our brands, our products, and our service, and continuing to pursue some of the growth opportunities and adjacencies that we've talked about. That will really position us well when the market does return to growth.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. Any questions from the audience? Maybe just a question we've been asking a lot of companies. Just when you think about AI and kind of the implementation of that in organizations, I mean, is there any—do you have an example or two of kind of AI implementation at Masco and kind of what specific outcomes that's driven?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. At Masco, as I've mentioned, we are hyper-focused on continuous improvement, driving cost efficiencies, et cetera, and leveraging tools and capabilities that are available. AI really fits into that. I mean, AI can be used as a broad term. We've been using things like machine learning, et cetera, for many, many years. What I would say in terms of some specific examples is from an AI standpoint, we use Copilot internally at Masco and within our business units. We've been leveraging that capability. There are examples of where we've been using AI in terms of product development and enhancing and accelerating product development. A consumer-facing one is we launched earlier this year.

The Behr team launched Chat Hue, which is an AI-enabled consumer-facing color selection tool that helps walk a consumer through the color selection process, which is one of the more exciting but also one of the more daunting elements of selecting your paint is the color. We have enabled that earlier this year. I think really across from an operational efficiency to other capabilities as well as consumer-facing, I would say it is still early days. We are certainly looking at opportunities where we can leverage that wherever possible.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. OK. I mean, you've got some intermediate targets I'll put out there: 20% in plumbing, 19%-20% in decorative. I guess with tariffs, is that still doable? Is it just kind of on a longer time frame? I mean, it does mean you have a couple hundred basis points in both of those segments of margin room. The question is how much of that is kind of delayed just numerically with tariffs? I guess second, how much of that improvement is really going to be driven by volume versus anything else?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. What Tim, you're alluding to is in February 2023, we went out with intermediate margin targets of 20% plumbing, 19%-20% on our other segment, DAP. We're making great progress towards that. We had taken our margins from a total Masco perspective from 15.6% in 2022 to 16.8% in 2023 to 17.5% in 2024 and the attendant growth in margins within our segments. We were on that trajectory. Obviously, this year has unfolded differently than I think most everybody anticipated, particularly on the tariff front. We are still, what I would say, committed to delivering strong margins. I think from a standpoint of performance, yes, this year has been more of a challenge given the industry, given tariffs, et cetera. As I mentioned before, our tariff mitigation is really taking hold. I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish.

We're going to continue to deliver that again based off of the tariff environment as we know it today. We will work to offset the full dollar-for-dollar impact and start working to offset some of the margin impact on that as well. We will look to, as we move into 2026, all else being equal, look to work towards expanding margins once again. It's something that we're focused on. John and I and the whole team is focused on delivering growth and margins. To your question about the source of the margin expansion, I mean, one of the big levers of that is growth because our incremental margins are really kind of 25%-30% in some cases. When you think about our current margins this year of 16.5% and you've got incremental margins of 25%, it's really accretive to margins.

It is not the only lever. Continuing to drive efficiencies, cost, productivity is going to be the other lever. Growth is going to be a big part of that equation.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. Maybe just on the Delta business, Home Depot is a really big partner for you there. I think sometimes investors are just kind of uncomfortable with just kind of the client relationship. But it almost seems kind of very symbiotic, maybe more than it appears kind of on the surface. So I guess maybe just talk about how that relationship is an asset over time and how it's kind of developed within the Masco Corporation.

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. The Masco and Behr specifically relationship with Home Depot dates back well over 40 years. I like the word symbiotic. I often use the word partnership. I have been here, as we have mentioned a couple of times, a couple of years. That is something I think from the outside is a natural question that people ask. Once you see the dynamics of the partnership in action and the relationship that we have, it is really a true partnership. We have aligned goals with regards to Home Depot and Behr in terms of selling as much paint as we can and making as most amount of money on selling that paint as possible. We represent about 80% of the paint sales in Home Depot. You can tell from that equation that there is mutual benefit with regards to delivering and driving the business and growth.

The other thing I would mention is we at Behr Paint, as well as our other businesses, as well as the Home Depot, as articulated by them, is very focused on growing the pro side of the business. That is something that we co-invest with each other in terms of growing, whether it is sales reps, delivery options with regards to, for example, order online, pick up in store, or loyalty programs, et cetera. We co-invest in that. When there are issues or opportunities, we work very collaboratively together to work through that. It truly is a partnership in all sense of the word.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. I guess in that business, historically, you guys kind of have a little bit of a, I guess there's a pass-through on kind of pricing and cost. You have one price. Obviously, Home Depot controls retail. You've got several players in the market that have put through pretty healthy price increases in paint without a lot of raw material inflation. It just seems like it could be a pretty good opportunity for maybe that channel, that Home Depot channel, to gain share. I'm just kind of curious what the talks with your partner have been on that and if that is an opportunity to maybe go after share.

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: Yeah. I mean, you framed it well, Tim, in terms of for those that are not aware, our relationship with the Home Depot is kind of an input cost-price neutrality. Input costs in terms of resins, TiO2, tariffs, to the extent that there is cost inflation, that gets priced into our price to the Home Depot. The inverse is true as well. It is really another proof point in terms of the partnership. The parties are not taking advantage of the situation. It is really just a pass-through type of dynamic. As you mentioned, the Home Depot makes their call as it pertains to the end price to the consumer. It is focused on everyday low prices. I know the price increase that you are referring to by one of our competitors. We do see that as an opportunity as it pertains to continue to position ourselves.

We think the strength of the Behr brand, the quality of the Behr brand, are really exceptional assets that Behr has and Masco has as its parent company. Also in terms of the value proposition that we offer. We think that that will continue to be an area that we and the Home Depot, by the nature of how they position themselves, will continue to focus on the value. The value is really price and quality combined. We see that as an opportunity, particularly across our DIY and our pro paint. We have continued to grow pro paint over a multi-year period higher than the market. We would aspire to continue to do that.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: Are there any specific investments on the pro side? You've invested in sales reps and some delivery capabilities and those types of things. Is that kind of the same kind of investment cycle, just more of the same type investment? Are there other things that you could do to kind of continue to grow the pro business? You never really gave the share back that you won during COVID, right? That business continues to grow. I don't think the overall pro business is really growing much. Are there kind of new investments you can make? Is it really kind of a lot of the same, just kind of more of it?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: We always explore opportunities. It is really the biggest lift that is going to come from those investments that we are going to continue to leverage and invest further in. Those are the sales reps, both in the store as well as outside of the store, the delivery methods in terms of creating convenience for the customer, and the loyalty programs. There are other opportunities out there that we are looking at with Home Depot. I do not want to get out in front of that. As it pertains to the opportunities and what is going to drive our growth, we have had a pretty successful recipe and formula to date. We are going to continue to leverage that. We will continue to explore additional opportunities to enhance that.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: OK. I guess on the DIY side, I think gallons on DIY are actually probably below kind of pre-COVID levels, if I'm not mistaken. How much of that is just existing home sales sitting at multi-decade lows versus some sort of structural consideration around do it for me versus kind of DIY?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: I think it's a combination, to be quite honest. It's tough to delineate and isolate the drivers of that. I think it is, it's a combination of the fact that there was a bit of a pull forward with regards to the COVID, a big spike in DIY paint in 2020, 2021. We still have a bit of a hangover effect with regards to that. We see a key driver of DIY being existing home sales. That's at multi-year, if not multi-decade lows. Those are tangible items that are suppressing the DIY market that will ultimately run their course. We're optimistic that we will see that pivot at some point here in the not-so-distant future.

There is a bit of a pivot we see in terms of the transition from DIY to do it for me, whether it's consumer preferences or demographics, et cetera. That is why it's very important for us to continue to invest in the pro business, not at the expense of DIY, but really to complement the pro so that we can deliver to the consumer, whether they're a DIY consumer or a pro consumer.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: Just last question. Most of your products in that aisle have been paints and coatings. There are a lot of other things that could kind of fall in those buckets. I mean, are those opportunities for Behr to kind of organically expand or maybe even inorganically expand?

Rick Westenberg, CFO, Masco: They are. Some of those adjacent businesses, so to speak, are Cox, sealants, applicators. We're already in many of those categories. It is a matter of growth and scale working with Home Depot. The Behr brand carries a lot of credibility with the consumer. Being able to leverage that brand across relevant adjacencies is an opportunity for us that we've been capitalizing on. We will continue to do so going forward.

Tim Weiss, Analyst, Baird: Great. We are out of time. Please join me in thanking Masco for being here.

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