Grainger Ready to Report Q3 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?

W.W. Grainger, Inc. GWW is scheduled to report third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 31, before the opening bell.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GWW’s sales is pegged at $4.64 billion, indicating 5.8% growth from the year-ago reported figure.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $9.93 per share. The consensus estimate for GWW’s earnings has moved down 2.2% in the past 60 days. The estimate indicates a year-over-year increase of 0.6%.

GWW’s Earnings Surprise History

Grainger’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimates in one of the trailing four quarters and missed in three, the average surprise being 0.6%.

What the Zacks Model Unveils for Grainger

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for GWW this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. However, that is not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Earnings ESP: Grainger has an Earnings ESP of +0.86%.

Zacks Rank: GWW currently has a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell).

Factors Likely to Have Shaped GWW’s Q3 Performance

Grainger is anticipated to have witnessed strong growth in core product sales for the past few quarters.

GWW has been focusing on enhancing the end-to-end customer experience through investments in its e-commerce and digital capabilities, while executing supply-chain improvement initiatives. These factors are likely to have contributed to its quarterly performance. We expect organic daily sales growth of 5.5%.

The company’s High-Touch Solutions North America segment is expected to have benefited from strength in commercial, transportation and heavy manufacturing; strong revenue growth across its North America regions; and an expansion in the number of large and midsize customers. Our model projects quarterly organic daily sales growth of 2.9% from the year-ago quarter's reported level.

Grainger has been witnessing market-beating growth in the High-Touch Solutions segment compared with the U.S. MRO (maintenance, repair and operating) market. This outperformance can be attributed to strategic activities, such as building advantaged MRO solutions, delivering unparalleled customer services, and offering differentiated sales and services.

We expect the segment’s sales to be $3.63 billion for the third quarter, suggesting 3.2% growth from the third-quarter 2024 reported level.

GWW’s Endless Assortment segment is likely to have benefited from robust customer acquisition and repeat business.

Our model predicts quarterly organic daily sales to grow 15.4% from the prior-year reported level. Customer growth at MonotaRO and Zoro is expected to have positively impacted the segment’s sales. Our model predicts the Endless Assortment segment’s sales to be $913 million, indicating a 15.4% rally from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure.

However, GWW has been witnessing elevated material and freight costs for some time. This, coupled with higher operating costs and incremental SG&A costs from higher technology investments, is likely to have negatively impacted its margins.

Grainger Stock’s Price Performance

Grainger's shares have lost 11.6% in a year compared with the industry’s 3.1% decline.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some companies with the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

AptarGroup ATR, slated to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 30, has an Earnings ESP of +1.27% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AptarGroup’s third-quarter 2025 earnings is pegged at $1.57 per share, suggesting a year-over-year rise of 5.4%. AptarGroup has a trailing four-quarter average surprise of 8.3%.

Terex Corporation TEX, slated to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 30, has an Earnings ESP of +0.27% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Terex’s third-quarter 2025 earnings is pegged at $1.22 per share, suggesting a year-over-year decline of 16.4%. Terex has a positive trailing four-quarter average surprise of 22.3%.

Sealed Air Corporation SEE, set to release third-quarter 2025 results on Nov. 4, has an Earnings ESP of +1.28% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Sealed Air’s third-quarter 2025 earnings is pegged at 68 cents per share, suggesting a year-over-year decline of 13.9%. Sealed Air has a trailing four-quarter average surprise of 19.04%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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