Whirlpool sales miss estimates as Latin America drags

By Dominic Roshan KL

(Reuters) - Whirlpool Corp <WHR.N> on Tuesday reported quarterly sales below analysts' estimates, hurt by lower appliance sales in Latin America, sending its shares down 2% in trading after the bell.

Net sales in the Latin American unit fell 28% to $632 million (£490.38 million) in the third quarter. Chief Executive Officer Marc Bitzer attributed the decline to the sale of the company's Embraco compressor business and to a small extent to currency changes.

Whirlpool has been looking to sell its loss-making businesses and in July completed the sale of Embraco to Japan's Nidec Corp <6594.T>.

The white goods maker's quarterly net sales fell 4.4% to $5.09 billion, missing analysts' estimate of $5.13 billion.

The Michigan-based company has raised prices of its products twice this year to counter rising costs from higher U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium - the two main raw materials for the company.

Bitzer told Reuters the company does not have any plan to raise prices further unless the price of raw materials change.

Whirlpool, the owner of brands such as KitchenAid and Maytag, also affirmed its full-year adjusted earnings forecast of between $14.75 and $15.50 per share.

Net earnings available to the company rose nearly 71% to $358 million, or $5.57 per share, in the quarter ended Sept.30.

Whirlpool's shares, which have gained more than 50% of their value so far this year, were down at $157 in after-hours trade after closing at $160.62.

(Reporting by Dominic Roshan K.L. in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)