Whirlpool returns to a profit in 2nd quarter

A load of laun­dry is loaded into a Whirlpool wash­ing machine in an apart­ment build­ing laun­dry in Pitts­burgh, Thurs­day, July 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Whirlpool Corp. returned to prof­itabil­ity in its sec­ond quar­ter, buoyed by cost cuts, higher prices and strength in North America.

The world’s biggest appli­ance maker bounced back from a loss a year ago tied to a col­lec­tion dis­pute settlement.

The results were below Wall Street expec­ta­tions, how­ever, and rev­enue fell 5 per­cent. Its shares fell 2 per­cent in early pre­mar­ket trading.

The com­pany behind brands like KitchenAid, May­tag and its name­sake reported net income of $113 mil­lion, or $1.43 per share for the three months ended June 30. It lost $161 mil­lion, or $2.10 per share, in the prior-year period.

Adjusted earn­ings were $1.55 per share when tak­ing out a restruc­tur­ing charge, gains related to a retiree health care plan and other items.

Ana­lysts expected adjusted earn­ings of $1.64 per share for the lat­est quar­ter, accord­ing to a Fact­Set poll.

Rev­enue fell to $4.51 bil­lion from $4.73 bil­lion. Remov­ing the impact of the stronger dol­lar, rev­enue rose about 2 percent.

Wall Street fore­cast $4.63 bil­lion in revenue.

North Amer­i­can rev­enue rose 4 per­cent to $2.5 bil­lion, but the Ben­ton Har­bor, Mich., com­pany said that results were soft in Europe due to eco­nomic volatility.

Sales for Europe, the Mid­dle East and Africa fell to $692 mil­lion from $841 mil­lion. These sales fell about 7 per­cent when strip­ping out the impact of the stronger dollar.

Latin Amer­i­can sales dipped to $1.2 bil­lion from $1.3 bil­lion. Exclud­ing the stronger dol­lar and Brazil­ian tax cred­its, these sales increased 8 per­cent. Asian sales fell to $241 mil­lion from $257 mil­lion but gained 6 per­cent when tak­ing out the stronger dollar.

Whirlpool reit­er­ated its full-year adjusted earn­ings guid­ance of $6.50 to $7 per share. Ana­lysts fore­see earn­ings of $6.44 per share.

Its shares fell $1.31, or 2 per­cent, to $66 in pre­mar­ket trading.

Posted by Becky Brooks on Jul 26 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.