Whirlpool is raising prices of its goods this year to combat rising costs of materials like steel, plastics and paint, echoing a similar move from Swedish rival Electrolux.
Whirlpool missed quarterly profit estimates and plans to boost productivity as it waits for demand in mature markets like the United States and Europe to pick up.
Whirlpool’s net earnings rose to $171 million, or $2.19 a share, from $95 million, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, it earned $2.11 a share, missing the analysts’ average estimate of $2.26 a share.
Sales rose 4 percent to $5.0 billion, above the analysts’ average estimate of $4.8 billion.
Whirlpool has shut plants, cut jobs and moved some manufacturing to low cost-centers like Mexico. It has also started using common parts across its portfolio of dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines.
“For 2011, we expect positive but uneven demand levels around the world,” Jeff M. Fettig, chairman and chief executive officer of Whirlpool, said in a statement. “Raw material inflation is driving costs higher and we expect to mitigate these costs with improvements in cost productivity, innovation and recently announced price increases.”