Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation’s record second quarter earnings have led to increased projections in the company’s full-year earnings per share guidance, even in the face of flat sales revenues as the company continues to overcome challenges in several key countries across the globe.
The appliance giant announced second quarter GAAP net earnings of $320-million, or $4.15 per diluted share, as compared to $177-million, or $2.21 per diluted share for the same period a year ago. Ongoing business earnings per diluted share totaled $3.50 compared to $2.70 in the same prior-year period.
That performance outstripped the best guesstimates of seven key analysts polled by Thomson Reuters who expected $3.36 per share in the second quarter.
As a result, Whirlpool has raised its full-year earnings per share guidance range to $11.50 to $12.00 on a GAAP basis, and ongoing business earnings per diluted share of $14.25 to $14.75.
Whirlpool Chairman and CEO Jeff Fettig says, “We delivered another quarter of record earnings and margin expansion while overcoming challenges in several key countries through focused execution of our plans.” He adds, “Our leading portfolio of brands, innovative new products and strong ongoing cost productivity programs have enabled us to continue creating significant value for our shareholders.”
Second-quarter net sales of $5.2-billion were flat compared to the same prior-year period. Excluding the impact of currency, sales increased by 3-percent.
Record second-quarter GAAP operating profit totaled $366-million, or 7-percent of sales, compared to $273-million, or 5.2-percent of sales, in the same prior-year period. Record second-quarter ongoing business operating profit totaled $435-million, or 8.4-percent of sales, compared to $355-million, or 6.8-percent of sales, in the same prior-year period. On a GAAP and ongoing basis, unit volume growth, acquisition synergies, ongoing cost productivity and benefits from cost and capacity-reduction initiatives more than offset unfavorable impacts from foreign currency.
For the six months ended June 30, 2016, the company reported cash used in operating activities of $(404)-million compared to $(397)-million in the same period a year ago. Whirlpool reported free cash flow of $(547)-million in the first six months of 2016 compared to $(619)-million in the same prior-year period.
Whirlpool North America reported second-quarter net sales of $2.8-billion, compared to $2.7-billion in the same period a year ago, and a sales increase of 4-percent once the impact of currency is filtered out. The company continues to expect full-year industry unit shipments in the U.S. to increase by 5 to 6-percent.
Whirlpool Europe, Middle East & Africa reported second-quarter net sales of $1.3-billion, down slightly from the same period a year ago, for a flat performance there.
Whirlpool Latin America reported second-quarter net sales of $826-million, compared to $854-million a year ago, an increase of 4-percent when currency issues are factored out.
Whirlpool Asia reported second-quarter net sales of $363-million as compared to $381-million a year ago, for a flat performance there as well.
Whirlpool President & Chief Operating Officer Marc Bitzer says, “We are well positioned to deal with continued global volatility and have already deployed strong plans to deliver our goals in a global environment that continues to be challenging.”
CEO Fettig says, “As we have demonstrated over the past five years, we continue to rapidly respond to a volatile global environment and deliver record results by growing revenue, expanding margins and generating cash.” He concludes, “We remain confident and committed to our value-creation strategy and expect to continue delivering record financial results, a balanced approach to capital allocation and strong investments in our business.”
