Whirlpool expects a full-year loss as third-quarter sales fall short

Whirlpool raises fourth-quarter prices 7% as it targets debt below $4.5 billion

Whirlpool expects a full-year loss of $1.30 per share after third-quarter net sales of $3.7 billion came in below the $3.9 billion estimate Wall Street analysts had for the company, according to FactSet. The appliance maker reported the results Monday and said it would raise fourth-quarter prices by 7% while working to bring debt below $4.5 billion by year-end. Whirlpool’s WHR ticker showed a 5.91% decrease. Separately, shares dropped 8% in aftermarket trading.

Whirlpool has reduced its full-year guidance steadily since January, when it forecast adjusted earnings of $7 per share. The full-year loss forecast announced Monday is the latest in that sequence of downward revisions.

Third-quarter net sales of $3.7 billion were down from $4 billion a year earlier. Whirlpool posted an adjusted loss of 21 cents per share, against an analyst estimate of earnings of 73 cents per share.

The demand backdrop behind those results was reported by John Keilman of The Wall Street Journal. High interest rates continue to suppress home sales, and inflation and the Iran war are making consumers nervous about spending on big-ticket items, Keilman reported.

Whirlpool has tried to protect profit with price increases and cost-cutting. The company is trimming jobs at its Iowa refrigerator factory as a prelude to modernization, is phasing out a plant in Mexico and is reducing its distribution centers.

Those efforts have been blunted by higher costs for raw materials, fuel and logistics. Whirlpool’s ongoing EBIT margin was 2.6% in the third quarter, down from 4.5% the prior year, and the company said the benefits from its cost-cutting will largely show up next year.

On pricing, Whirlpool is increasing prices by 7% for the fourth quarter and claims the rest of the industry has been following its lead.

The company’s debt is a second constraint. Swollen by the $3 billion purchase of garbage-disposal maker InSinkErator in 2022, Whirlpool’s debt hit $6.5 billion last year. The company expects that figure to be under $4.5 billion by the end of this year.

Whirlpool suspended its dividend earlier this year as its financial picture darkened. Chief financial officer Roxanne Warner declined to comment about the dividend but said the company’s priority is paying down debt.

Warner also said Whirlpool is holding its place in the market. The company has not slowed its rollouts, launching about 100 new products this year. “For 2026, we have not seen a falloff in share,” she said.

Two of the company’s own numbers set the near-term frame: a 7% price increase in the fourth quarter and debt below $4.5 billion by year-end. The savings from Whirlpool’s cost-cutting, the company said, will largely show up next year.