It’s been a fascinating day for Whirlpool watchers today, and a rewarding one for shareholders thus far. The Benton Harbor-based appliance giant has seen its stock leap thanks to newly released numbers from the entire industry following strong April sales growth.
According to Wall Street financial reports, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, (AHAM) reported today that April shipments of a broad array of major appliances soared year-over-year when compared to last April. In fact, the shipment of new refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, ovens, washers, dryers and freezers were up 13.7-percent when compared to April of 2016. The truly striking part of that equation is that AHAM had originally expected a 2-percent rise in the market.
Whirlpool’s stock price started the day in the range of $184-per share and rose rapidly to nearly $189 a share by early afternoon, before fading a few cents into mid-afternoon and then moved back up in the final hour. The more than 2.7-percent boost maintained the better part of the day with volume approaching 14-billion shares with less than an hour to go in active trading.
While the AHAM numbers represent the entire appliance manufacturing industry, it has a solid effect for Whirlpool, inasmuch as they are the world’s largest manufacturer of major home appliances.
