Whirlpool 1Q profit falls 46 pct on tough comps
BENTON HARBOR, Mich.—Profit at Whirlpool tumbled 46 percent during the first quarter compared to the previous year, when the company was able to book huge tax credits.
Removing one-time items, the maker of Maytag and KitchenAid, as well as its namesake brand appliances, easily beat Wall Street predictions for the quarter.
Whirpool earned $92 million, or $1.17 per share, down from $169 million, or $2.17 per share, in the same quarter last year.
Last year, tax credits accounted for about $1.69 per share in profit.
Adjusted for restructuring expenses and the Brazilian and U.S. tax credits, the company's profit rose to $1.41 per share from 64 cents per share a year ago.
That is well above the $1.15 predicted by analysts, though Whirlpool's revenue of $4.35 billion, down 1 percent, fell just shy.
North American unit shipments dropped about 7 percent and sales fell about 1 percent to $2.2 billion.
Latin American sales rose 3 percent to $1.3 billion, while sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa dropped 8 percent to $688 million and Asia sales fell 3 percent to $202 million the company said.
Whirlpool Corp., based in Benton Harbor, Mich., said it still expects to post a full-year adjusted profit of between $6.50 and $7 per share.
