Whirlpool 4Q profit more than doubles, sales up in Asia

BENTON HARBOR (AP) — Whirlpool’s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled as it trimmed spending at the same time that sales improved in Asia and North America.

The maker of Maytag, KitchenAid and other appliances earned $180 million, or $2.28 per share, for the period ended Dec. 31. That compares with $81 million, or $1.02 per share, a year earlier.

Earnings, adjusted for pretax expenses and restructuring costs, were $4.10 per share, easily besting Wall Street’s expectations of per-share projections of $3.90, according to a survey by by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue was $5.56 billion.

For the year, Whirlpool Corp. reported an adjusted profit of $12.38 per share on revenue of $20.89 billion.

Whirlpool, based in Benton Harbor, Michigan, expects a 2016 adjusted profit in the range of $14 to $14.75 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet predict $14.42 per share.
————————
Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WHR at http://www.zacks.com/ap/WHR.