Whirlpool beats Street fourth quarter forecasts

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $81 million. On a per-share basis, the Benton Harbor, Michigan-based company said it had net income of $1.02. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions and pretax expenses, came to $3.52 per share. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $3.17 per share. The maker of Maytag, KitchenAid and other appliances posted revenue of $6 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Analysts expected $5.63 billion, according to Zacks. Whirlpool expects full-year earnings in the range of $14 to $15 per share. Whirlpool shares have increased almost 4 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has increased 59 percent in the last 12 months. -------- This story was 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 Published: Thu, Feb 05, 2015