Whirlpool Corp. 2026 Q2 Earnings Call
Review the key takeaways and the transcript of this earnings call.
- Whirlpool Corporation reported second quarter 2026 net sales of $3.5 billion, with sequential margin improvement of 50 basis points to 1.8%, resulting in ongoing earnings per share of -$0.21.
- North America segment net sales were $2.4 billion, up 8% sequentially, with Ebit margin improvement of 240 basis points driven by promotional price increases and structural cost takeout initiatives.
- US industry demand was down 3.4% year over year in North America.
- Latin America net sales decreased 2% excluding currency effects, with an Ebit margin of 3% despite a tax case related net gain.
- SDA global business achieved an Ebit margin of approximately 12% with double digit sell-through growth and share gains globally, despite a temporary trade inventory burn in Q2.
- Whirlpool accelerated new product launches, transitioning over 30% of its MBA portfolio in North America into new products, the largest refresh in ten years, and won 23 awards at the 2026 Kitchen and Bath show.
- The company executed a promotional price increase of more than 10% in North America effective late April, and a list price increase of approximately 4% effective July, with strong execution and positive impact on margins and retail sell-out prices.
- Structural cost takeout initiatives are on track to deliver $150 million in savings in 2026, including $60 million from automation, $15 million from strategic sourcing, and $20 million from targeted fixed cost actions.
- Whirlpool announced manufacturing footprint changes in Amana, Iowa; Rio Claro, Brazil; and Ramos, Mexico, expected to deliver meaningful cost savings starting in Q4 2026.
- The company consolidated US local distribution centers by 25%, reducing from 126 to 94, while maintaining 97% of customers within 100 miles of a center, to improve availability and reduce costs.
- Whirlpool completed a $1.1 billion equity offering, a $2 billion asset-based lending facility, and issued $2 billion in secured bonds to clear 2026 and 2027 debt maturities, improving liquidity and financial flexibility.
- The sale of its minority stake in Becker Europe B.V. generated approximately $128 million in proceeds, with $84 million net cash consideration.
- Free cash flow was a consumption of approximately $1.1 billion in Q2, driven by lower earnings and seasonal working capital.
- Management reaffirmed full-year operational outlook with expected revenue growth of approximately 1.5% in 2026 and ongoing Ebit margin of approximately 4%.
- Free cash flow is expected to be $300 million or approximately 2% of net sales for the full year, driven by structural inventory optimization.
- Interest expense guidance was updated from $300 million to $350 million due to recent debt refinancing activities.
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Transcript
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Good morning, welcome to Whirlpool Corporation's second quarter 2026 earnings call. Today's call is being recorded. Joining me today are Marc Bitzer, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Roxanne Warner, our Chief Financial Officer, Juan Carlos Puente, our Executive President of North America and Global Strategic Sourcing, and Ludovic Beaufils, our Executive President of KitchenAid Small Appliances and Latin America. Our remarks today track with a presentation available on our investor section of our website at whirlpoolcorp.com. Before we begin, I want to remind you that as we conduct this call, we will be making forward-looking statements to assist you in better understanding Whirlpool Corporation's future expectations. Our actual results could differ materially from these statements due to many factors discussed in our latest 10-K, 10-Q, and other periodic reports.
We also want to remind you that today's presentation includes the non-GAAP measures outlined in further detail at the beginning of our earnings presentation. We believe that these measures are important indicators of our operations as they exclude items that may not be indicative of results from our ongoing business operations. We also think the adjusted measures will provide you with a better baseline for analyzing trends in our ongoing business operations. Listeners are directed to the supplemental information package posted on the investor relations section of our website for the reconciliation of non-GAAP items to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following our prepared remarks, the call will be open for analyst questions. As a reminder, we ask that participants ask no more than two questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Marc.
Thanks, Scott, good morning, everyone. During today's call, you will hear three key messages. First, our Q2 performance was in line with our expectations, despite the persistent macroeconomic challenges impacting our industry and the broader economy. Second, we delivered sequential margin improvement in Q2, and we expect margins to continue improving throughout the remainder of 2026. North America, in particular, delivered strong operational progress relative to the first quarter, supported by our second quarter promotion pricing increase and a strong lineup of new products. Third, we continue to take decisive actions to better position our business in the near term and capture the upside when consumer sentiment and the housing market rebound.
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