With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.5 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $24 billion.

America's Most Innovative Companies

AI is a major force shaping this year’s list—but it’s far from the only story.

World's Most Admired Companies

This ranking evaluates how Fortune 500 companies are deploying AI, and how technology leaders value those investments relative to industry peers.

Fortune AIQ 50

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.6 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $22 billion.

Leaders in all industries rely more than ever on Big Tech—and appreciate the giants that deliver, at scale, without drama.

Industries included in the sector are electrical equipment and industrial machinery.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Industrials

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The 200 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

The 26th edition of the list shows how much esteem Big Tech giants command among other business leaders.

The 25th Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list suggests that tech giants’ peers respect them as much as ever.

The 300 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dominates Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

After a year in which humanity leaned more heavily than ever on tech giants, see which companies topped Fortune's ranking of corporate reputation.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-154-Whirlpool

The multinational manufacturer of home appliances has more than 50 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. In May, the company announced a net-zero emissions target in its plants and operations by 2030.

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-162-Whirlpool

The global manufacturer of washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves, mixers, air conditioners, and other home appliances under brand names like Maytag and KitchenAid is headquartered in Benton Harbor, Mich.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2019 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2018 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2017 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

Business insiders have spoken: Asked which companies they most admire, more than 4,100 executives, directors, and analysts chose these top 50 All-Stars.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

Fortune Global 500

Sector

Industry

Current All-Star Rank

Previous All-Star Rank

Industry Rank

Previous Industry Rank

Overall Score

Innovation

People Management

Use of Corporate Assets

Social Responsibility

Quality of Management

Financial Soundness

Long-Term Investment Value

Quality of Products/Services

Global Competitiveness

Strongest Dimension

Years on list

Previous rank

State

Key Financials (last Fiscal Year)

Revenues ($M)

Profits ($M)

Assets ($M)

Total Stockholder Equity ($M)

Profit Ratios

Profit as % of Revenues

Profits as % of Assets

Profits as % of Stockholder Equity

Earnings Per Share (last Fiscal Year)

Earnings Per Share ($)

EPS % Change (from prior fiscal year)

EPS % Change (5 year annual rate)

EPS % Change (10 year annual rate)

Total Return

Total Return to Investors (last year)

Total Return to Investors (5 year, annualized)

Total Return to Investors (10 year, annualized)

Whirlpool Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets home appliances including refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, and dishwashers. Its product lineup is offered under several well-known brand names and serves both residential and commercial customers. The company distributes its products globally through retailers and direct-to-consumer channels. Whirlpool also provides parts and customer service support for its appliance lines.

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Q2 2025

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Whirlpool (WHR): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

legacy

Whirlpool

whirlpool

Good morning, and welcome to Whirlpool Corporation's second quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. Today's call is being recorded. Joining me today are Mark Bitzer, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Jim Peters, our Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. Our remarks today track with a presentation available on the Investors 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 ks, 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 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, and good morning, everyone. As expected, we navigated the challenging second quarter and continue to operate in an increasingly complex external environment. The macroeconomic uncertainty marked by elevated interest rates and evolving trade policies negatively impacted consumer sentiment. In particular, weakness of consumer sentiment not only suppressed demand but also impacted itself as we continued to see consumers choosing to mix into lower end products. Furthermore, with the recent delays in tariff implementation, Asian competitors are not yet experiencing the full cost of tariffs and have continued to increase their imports ahead of the tariffs.

In fact, we estimate that during the first half of this year, the amount of Asian appliance imports will approach the highest level on record. Needless to say, that this preloading has created significant short term disruption, adding to the promotional intensity throughout the second quarter. We are well positioned to win over time and are confident these effects are temporary in nature. However, it has become clear that they will extend well into the third quarter, putting pressure on short term margin expansion. Despite these macro challenges, we still delivered sequential net sales growth across all segments in the second quarter and very strong results in our SDA global business, driven by our exciting new products.

Given the prolonged loading impact by competitors and the lack of consumer confidence in the marketplace, we are updating our full year guidance. As we expect the full impact of tariffs to kick in later this year and these temporary negative effects to subside, we are confident that we will see meaningful improvement in the MDA North American business heading into next year. Our perspective has not changed that Whirlpool will be a net beneficiary from these new tariff policies. We are structurally positioned to win in this environment and believe we are operating from a position of strength driven by a strong domestic footprint. Irrespective of the external challenges, we will stay focused on what we control.

We successfully implemented pricing actions, we structurally drove cost out of our business and we strengthened our balance sheet with our recent debt refinancing. Putting it all together, our investment case remains as strong as ever, and we see a credible pathway for improvement in our results: one, we are excited about the extensive portfolio of new products we're introducing this year, the largest number in more than a decade two, we are a clear beneficiary of structural shifts in trade policy and three, our leadership position with U. S. Homebuilders and our deep relationship with national account position us to benefit from eventual recovery in The U. S.

Housing market. Whirlpool is well positioned to deliver sustained long term value, and we have every confidence we will do so. Turning to Slide six. I will provide an overview of our second quarter results. Negative consumer sentiment that impacted global industry demand in the second quarter led to a 3% decline in net sales, excluding currency.

Despite the challenging demand environment, we continue to see strong growth in our SDA global business. Global EBIT margins held steady year over year at 5.3% despite significant currency headwinds, primarily from a weakening Brazilian real. Our free cash flow was unfavorable versus prior year by approximately $140,000,000 driven by the seasonal inventory build. Ultimately, we delivered ongoing earnings per share of $1.34 which was negatively impacted by approximately $0.35 from a noncash loss associated with our minority interest in Becker Europe BV. Turning to Slide seven, I will provide an overview of our second quarter ongoing EBIT margin drivers.

Pricemix favorably impacted margin by 25 basis points. This was slightly below our expectations as the preloading of Asian imports sustained an intense promotional environment. Additionally, weakened consumer confidence pushed mix down further in an environment that was already largely replacement driven. As expected, our cost takeout actions delivered margin expansion of 100 basis points year over year, led by our continued manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies and our organizational simplification actions. As expected, raw materials were essentially flat.

In the second quarter, we began to experience the increased costs associated with tariffs at approximately 50 basis points. While overall marketing and technology was flat versus prior year, we have continued to invest in our new products. In the second quarter, the Brazilian real and Mexican peso depreciated compared to prior year, resulting in an unfavorable margin impact of 50 basis points. We also experienced approximately $90,000,000 of unfavorable noncash impact from our minority stake in BekoEurope BB. Ultimately, we maintained flat margins year over year despite the challenging global macro environment.

And now I will turn it over to Jim to review the second quarter segment results.

Thanks, Marc. Good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide eight, I'll review the second quarter results for our MDA North America business. Net sales were down 5% year over year as we continue to experience a challenging macro environment in The U. S.

Consumer sentiment remains weak as a result of the economic uncertainty and evolving tariff policies. As Mark stated, the significant preloading of Asian imports from foreign competitors due to the delay in tariff implementation caused the promotional intensity to persist. In the first half, we saw Asian imports up over 20% while the industry was down despite being propped up by the inventory loading. All this is effectively delaying the impact of tariffs on appliances being imported by our foreign competitors well into the second half of this year. Despite these challenges, MDA North America delivered an EBIT margin of approximately 6% with strong cost takeout offset by lower volume and unfavorable product mix.

While we continue to experience a choppy macro environment, we are confident in our growth potential for North America. Turning to Slide nine, I'll review the results for our MDA Latin America business. In the second quarter MDA Latin America experienced a net sales decline of 1% year over year excluding currency with implemented pricing actions offset by double digit negative consumer demand in Mexico. The segment delivered a solid EBIT margin of 6% with favorable price mix and cost actions driving approximately 20 basis points of expansion year over year. Turning to Slide 10.

I'll review the results for our MDA Asia business. In the second quarter MDA Asia saw a net sales decline of 4% year over year excluding currency driven by industry decline partially offset by continued strong share gains. The segment delivered over 7% EBIT margin in the quarter with 90 basis points of year over year margin expansion from continued cost takeout. Our Asia business continues to operate well overcoming the geopolitical tensions in the second quarter and delivering substantial margin expansion and share gains. Turning to Slide 11, I'll review the results of our SDA global business.

The segment delivered another strong quarter with net sales growth of 8% year over year driven by direct to consumer sales growth despite a declining industry in North America. We continue to see growth and margin expansion from our recent product launches in high growth categories including our semi and fully automatic espresso machines. The SDA global business is well positioned to continue to deliver significant growth in the second half of the year which typically accounts for two thirds of annual demand. Now I will turn the call over to Mark to provide an overview of North America's growth catalysts.

Thanks, Jim. Turning to Slide 13, we outline why North America is well positioned to unlock significant value creation. As mentioned before, there are three fundamental components that serve as catalysts for growth of our North America business. First, we strengthened our leading brand and product portfolio with over 30% of our North American products transitioning to new products in 2025. For context, this is our largest product portfolio refresh in over a decade.

Our trade customers have responded very positively to the new product innovations we're launching this year, resulting in gaining a significant number of new floor spots. While the new product launches are taking place throughout 2025, we expect to see the biggest impact from our new KitchenAid suite launch, which starts shipping late September. Secondly, our strong U. S.-based manufacturing footprint positions us as net winners of our new tariff and trade policies. In an industry where most competitors are largely importers of major domestic appliances, eight in 10 products Volvo sells in The U.

S. Are made in The U. S. Furthermore, the majority of our raw materials and components are also domestically sourced, with over 96% of the steel used in our U. S.

Factories sourced from U. S. With our larger domestic production footprint, we are uniquely positioned in the appliance industry and the current economic landscape. Based on the announcements in effect as of today, we expect that foreign competitors will begin to experience the full implications of tariffs on appliances as they sell down their preloaded inventory in the 2025. Lastly, turning to The U.

S. Housing market. We continue to see strong underlying fundamentals that point to a likely multiyear recovery. The industry has been experiencing multi decade lows in existing home sales as mortgage rates have remained elevated. This is also shaping the profile of major appliance demand, which has seen discretionary demand contract by 10 points as existing home sales tend to be the primary driver of discretionary demand.

While we're not assuming a housing market recovery in 2025, we believe in the mid- long term fundamentals and our position to capitalize on this opportunity. Simply put, there is no company better positioned to benefit from eventual housing market recovery than Whirlpool. Now turning to Slide 14. I would like to highlight some of the exciting new product launches. Let me start with our innovative downdraft induction cooktops from JennAir.

As you might know, the downdraft cooktop is the heritage product of a JennAir super premium brand. What is new is the unique combination of induction technology with the most advanced and most powerful downdraft system, which we developed jointly with a leading European downdraft company. Apart from the obvious benefits of a downdraft, like faster, more effective extraction and an unobstructed view, this product can be installed without a duct, which offers a great replacement demand opportunity. Based on what we learned from Europe, where this product is leading in the marketplace by value, we believe there's significant growth opportunity in The U. S.

As well. On Slide 15, you see a picture of our all new KitchenAid suite, which starts shipping September. To put this in context, the last time we introduced an all new KitchenAid suite was in 2015, and this line of products represents over $1,000,000,000 of business. Beyond the modern and advanced design, this line will be unique in its personalization opportunity. The personalization comes from a combination of interchangeable colors, handles and knobs, which actually can be changed at the customer's home.

We introduced this new line to the design and builder community a few months ago, and the response has been remarkably strong with hundreds of new floor spots gained. Lastly, on Slide 16, we show you our new Maytag Pets top load laundry. You might recall that our Pet Pro technology has been hugely successful in the top load agitator segment. We're now bringing this innovation also to the impeller top load machines, which tend to be more in the premium segment of the marketplace. It is an industry first technology, and the Maytag brand has all the credibility in getting the tough job done to launch this innovation.

Turning to Slide 17. We'll discuss the tariff landscape for appliance importers into The U. S. This slide summarizes the relevant tariff actions taken by the administration and illustrates the estimated tariff rates as a percentage of total product value, assuming rates as of today and the August 1 reciprocal tariffs. You can see in the table how the various tariffs, including Section two thirty two in steel content, Section three zero one in specific components and finished goods and the reciprocal IEPA tariffs from various countries impact appliance imports.

While the overall tariff picture is still fluid, a 44% tariff on Chinese products and a 16% tariff on finished goods from other Asian countries should substantially impact competitors and, in turn, benefit American manufacturers. Slide 18 clearly shows why we believe that no matter how you look at The U. S. Appliance industry, there is no other company better positioned than Whirlpool with our U. S.

Manufacturing footprint to navigate the straight landscape. As you can see, 80% of our MDA North American products, sodium U. S, are produced in The U. S.

This compares to the rest of the industry, excluding Vopu, which has only about 25% domestic production. We are proud to be invested in U. S. Manufacturing, and we will continue to invest in The U. S, as we have for over a century.

As we are only primarily domestic producers compared to our major competitors who are largely importers, we're confident that this is a new competitive advantage for Whirlpool in the new tariff landscape. Turning to Slide 19. Let me review how our North American business is well positioned to benefit from an overdue housing market recovery in The U. S. Appliance demand is broken down into three main drivers: discretionary demand, which is highly correlated to existing home sales new home construction and replacement demand driven by duress purchases.

The U. S. Housing industry has slowed in recent years as interest rates have risen sharply, drastically impacting discretionary demand. Notably, the size of these demand drivers has shifted significantly this time frame, with replacement demand becoming a bigger portion of overall demand. While replacement demand has continued to be strong, this comes with a weaker mix relative to discretionary demand.

Return of discretionary demand will bring a much stronger appliance mix. Turning to Slide 20, we show how discretionary demand is impacted by existing home sales. As mentioned earlier, there is a strong correlation between discretionary demand and existing home sales. In 2022, the rapid increase in mortgage rates slowed home sales significantly to the lowest level in thirty years. As mortgage rates begin to moderate off the peak, we expect existing home sales to improve.

Discretionary demand has a richer mix with more built in products and full kitchen suite sales. We expect existing home sales will unlock in the midterm and improve discretionary demand. On Slide 21, we discuss U. S. New home construction, which has been undersupplied since the financial crisis and creates long term upside potential for Whirlpool.

There is an undersupply of U. S. Housing of approximately 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 homes, along with a rising median age of U. S. Homes to over 40 years, which is the oldest housing stock in U.

S. History. Given the favorable demographics in The U. S, a multiyear improvement in new housing starts is needed to address the undersupply gap. Turning to Slide 22.

We highlight how our leading builder business is positioned to benefit from the overdue housing recovery. A few years ago, we made the conscious choice to invest in The U. S. Builder business and significantly strengthen our position in this part of the segment. As a result, today, we're proud to hold the number one position with national builders approaching 60% share.

We also do business with eight of the top 10 builders in The U. S. Our final mile delivery capabilities, along with the breadth of our products and brand portfolio, allow us to directly serve our builders and meet their needs, a truly differentiated capability. Putting it all together, you see that we are at an inflection point in terms of our performance and our position to win in this environment. To wrap up this section, let me repeat our three catalysts for structural long term growth in our North American business with: new products strengthening our leading brand portfolio a unique domestic footprint, which positions us as a winner in the new trade policy and our number one position among builders, which will provide sizable upside in the eventual housing market recovery.

And now I will turn it over to Jim to review our 2025 guidance and capital allocation priorities.

Thanks, Marc. Turning to Slide '24, I will review our updated guidance for 2025. As Mark highlighted, there continues to be considerable uncertainty in the macro environment along with short term headwinds from the preloading of Asian appliance imports. As a result, we are updating our full year guidance to reflect this uncertainty and the timing in which we expect some of these headwinds to subside. We now target the India transaction to close around year end and therefore have included the India results from July through December 2024 back into the baseline for comparison purposes.

The reset baseline excludes approximately $800,000,000 in net sales and an approximately $9,000,000 EBIT loss creating a like for like comparison for 2025 guidance. On a like for like basis 2024 net sales were approximately $15,800,000,000 with an ongoing EBIT margin of approximately 5.7%. We expect approximately flat net sales of $15,800,000,000 in 2025 reflecting our strong pipeline of new products offset by the worsening global consumer sentiment impacting demand and unfavorable currency. On a like for like basis, we expect an approximately flat ongoing EBIT margin of 5.7. Free cash flow is expected to deliver approximately $400,000,000 As a reminder, the adjusted effective tax rate is expected to be 20% to 25% in 2025.

We still expect the cash tax rate to be significantly lower. We expect full year ongoing earnings per share of $6 to $8 Turning to Slide 25. We show the drivers of our updated full year ongoing EBIT margin guidance. We have updated our expectation of pricemix to 25 basis points to reflect the weakening consumer sentiment impacting mix and the delays in tariffs prolonging the promotional pressure beyond what we previously anticipated. Net cost takeout reflects the expectation of delivering approximately $200,000,000 Transaction impacts reflects our most recent expectations on the non cash impact of equity from affiliates related to BAKO Europe lowered by 25 basis points.

We lowered the expected impact of incremental tariffs from two fifty to 150 basis points to reflect the most current proposed tariff rates. The biggest adjustment from previous expectations is most notably from China's tariff rates. We expect to offset these impacts through the cost based pricing actions announced in the second quarter and by continuing to assess our supply sourcing strategy. It is important to reiterate that these impacts represent currently announced tariffs and do not factor in any future or potential changes in trade policy. Turning to Slide 26, I will review our updated segment expectations.

Globally, we now expect the total industry to be approximately flat to down 3%. In MDA North America, with the worsening consumer sentiment and pressure on discretionary demand, we expect the industry to be flat to down 3%. MDA Latin America has seen significant deterioration in Mexico and a deceleration in Brazil. Therefore, we now expect industry to be flat to down 5%. We continue to see demand improvement in India, however, behind initial expectations due to geopolitical tensions and an unusually cool summer selling season in the second quarter.

We have adjusted the MDA Asia industry flat to up 3%. Finally, SDA Global continues to be impacted by discretionary demand weakness in The U. S. And Europe resulting in the expected industry for the year to be flat to down 3%. It is important to note that we continue to expect to deliver incremental sales growth through our new product introductions despite the unfavorable industry.

We have adjusted EBIT margin in North America to reflect the prolonged effect of tariff uncertainty and the competitor preloading negatively impacting the promotional intensity. We expect a full year MDA North America margin of six percent to 6.5%. With unfavorable currency impacts and weakening consumer demand in Latin America, we now expect EBIT margin of approximately 7%. We now expect MDA Asia EBIT margin of approximately 5% driven by India consolidated results now being included in the full year guidance. With the strength of SDA Global's direct to consumer growth and previous new product introductions, we now expect an increase in EBIT margin to 15.5%.

Turning to Slide 27, I will review our free cash flow guidance. We've updated our cash earnings and other operating accounts consistent with full year EBIT guidance. We have not changed our expectations for capital expenditures and continue to focus on delivering product excellence and investing in our U. S. Manufacturing footprint.

We expect to sustain our low working capital levels and do not expect a material impact. Finally, we've updated the restructuring expectations of the previously announced organizational simplification actions to approximately $50,000,000 Overall, we expect free cash flow of approximately $400,000,000 for the year. Turning to Slide 28, I will review our capital allocation priorities. Investing in innovative products that meet our consumers' needs is critical to driving our organic growth. We are very excited about the 100 plus new products we are launching this year.

Secondly, we are committed to reducing debt levels. We continue to expect to pay down $700,000,000 of debt in 2025, taking a significant step towards our long term target of 2x net debt leverage. Lastly, we are committed to returning cash to shareholders by funding a healthy dividend. We are confident our business is well positioned for growth. However, the volatile macro environment and prolonged suppressed housing cycle have impacted our short term results.

After careful consideration with focus on our long term value creation, we are recommending to adjust the annual dividend rate to $3.60 per share starting in the third quarter. While this decision was not taken lightly, it is critical to ensure we create the capacity on our balance sheet for future investments in The U. S. And continued focus on debt repayment. As a reminder, the dividend is approved quarterly by the Board of Directors.

Turning to slide 29. We continue to strengthen our balance sheet and operate with ample liquidity. We proactively refinanced $1,200,000,000 of debt with five and eight year notes at very favorable rates with a weighted average rate of 6.3%. We still expect to pay down approximately $700,000,000 of debt this year. And the cash generation from the anticipated India transaction, which has generated significant interest from large third party investors, is targeted to close around the 2025.

As a reminder, we have ample liquidity for our operations and financing needs as we have access to a $3,500,000,000 revolving credit facility. Turning to Slide 30. Let me review what you heard today. While we are operating in a challenging macro cycle, we are encouraged by our progress. We continue to reduce costs from our business, launch record numbers of new products and execute previously announced pricing actions.

In North America, we're very well positioned for growth driven by our new product innovation, significant domestic manufacturing footprint, and housing demand fundamentals that suggest horizon. We continue to expect the administration's tariff policies will help level the playing field for U. S.-based producers and in effect make Whirlpool a net winner. Our SDA Global segment delivers strong value creation as it delivers continued top line and margin expansion. As we move into the second half, we remain focused on the execution of what is within our control, driving structural cost takeout, implementing previously announced pricing actions and executing on our capital allocation priorities, including organic growth, debt reduction and funding a healthy dividend.

With the right operational priorities in place, we are confident in our strategy and our ability to create long term value. Now we will end our formal remarks and open it up for questions.

Your first question comes from the line of David MacGregor from Longbow Research. Your line is open.

Mark, what's your best estimate of the quantity of pull forward tariff free imported product currently on the ground? And how long will it take to move that through retail?

David, it's first of all, I admit it's difficult to exactly give an estimate. But let me give you a couple of data points. As you've seen, the market overall on a sell in base on a registered selling base was slightly down in Q2. While at the same time, the appliance imports from Asia, if you take the year to date numbers, they are significantly up. I mean, we're talking particularly if you exclude China, more than 20% up.

So there's a significant imbalance between the officially declared sell in and what has been shipped from Asia. I would argue, even though declared sell in is slightly above the actual sell out. And we also and we referred to this one earlier, the what has been declared as AM shipment may include some consignment stock from competitors. So it's very difficult to calibrate. But I would and of course, we don't have a June official import date, so I'm referring to the May 1.

As of May, I would have expected there's probably easily six to ninety days of inventory from the excess Asian imports in there. That hopefully will flow through a system. And I think hopefully, it will become every month less as the tariffs are taking really effect. But it has been a significant additional loading happening throughout May.

Okay. Thanks for that. I guess as a follow-up, I just wanted to ask you about the promotional calendar. And I guess at this point, all the manufacturers are out with their promotional plans for the second half. What are you hearing in the way of how second half might look different from the first half?

It seems as though manufacturers are backing off PMAP, support for house offers, shifting to more kind of buy more, save more type of promotional programs. Is the problem that your competitors' promotional focus has shifted to more premium products and that's cutting more into your margins? Just talk about how the second half should play out.

Yes. And David, as you know, we're kind of typically, don't give forward looking statement on promotional pricing. So let me just more kind of this kind of wisdom of hindsight, including July 4, and then you can try to read whatever into this one. First of all, as you've seen in Q2, we significantly reduced our promotional efforts, both in duration and depth of promotion. Frankly, in Q2, we're probably quite a bit of ahead of a competitor in terms of being a little bit more or less aggressive, if you want to say so.

And that was simply a result that we saw also we are impacted by tariff costs, and we had to adjust it. But more importantly, simply, in a strong replacement driven market, the lift you get from this promotional investment is just very little, okay? And if you really look at the math of some of these promotions, the lift you get is, to some extent, even pulled forward. So you start wondering, does it purely economically make sense to have these deep investment in promotion periods when the lift is just very little? And that's ultimately why we curtailed our promotional depth and duration in Q2.

And right now, again, we don't give forward looking statements, but right now, we would not expect a completely different behavior from us. We saw in the industry July 4 was still deep for the industry. That is a large result. Yes, there's excess inventory buildup in the system, and probably people had to sell it off, and that's just what it is. We saw post July 4, call it, a normalization post promotion.

So there was a move up, but it's hard to yet predict what it really means for what you probably referred to Labor Day and Black Friday. I would overall expect probably a more muted environment than in past, but that's right now pure speculation from my side.

Your next question comes from the line of Mike Dahl from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Mark, I just want to follow-up on the import dynamic because I think on the last call, inventory was characterized as maybe a number of weeks. Now it's extending through 3Q, which is kind of many months going back to kind of the April comments now through September. So understanding that some of the data that we can all see is lagged, how much visibility do you actually have to make those kind of calculations around how much is in warehouses or how much is that, whether it's warehouses at ports or warehouses from your retailers? Just trying to figure out like the especially as China seems to be on the verge of those tariffs getting delayed again, how you gauge the visibility of that level of imports?

Yes. Michael, let me maybe give you a little bit of longer answer to your question. And of course, it's more calibration as opposed to absolute facts because you don't obviously, we don't have precise inventory data by our competitors. But let me context first of all. When we have our last earnings call, that was April, that was pretty much post or just a few weeks post the Liberation Day announcement.

And I also want to be very clear, of course, we 100% support what the administration is trying to do, and we ultimately will be a net beneficiary of this one. But you also have seen that since then, there have been a number of delays. And frankly, we're still operating in an environment where there's uncertainty about what happens around August 1, what happens with country tariffs. As much as we strongly applaud what the administration is doing, of course, we all live in an environment where tariffs have been delayed or postponed. Now you can also imagine when you send a message to our competitors that tariffs are delayed, like an invitation to ship a little bit more over next couple of weeks.

And that's what we've seen throughout the entire second quarter. And by the way, the interesting data point you just need to look at is the if you look at the container rates in terms of how they spike up, that's always a signal, okay, there's more demand for shipments. So we've seen that with every tariff delay, there is another round of additional loading. Now to calibrate it, yes, we know what the official sell in data is. We know what the appliance imports are as of May, but June numbers will come out mid August.

What you've seen, and this may be a little bit of sign of encouragement, but China shipments started leveling out a little bit. So we saw already a little bit of moderation in May, and that's probably a logical result of the China tariffs kicked in fairly significantly. But the other Asian countries were just significantly increased. Now I would expect this $242,000,000 coming to effect and the additional country tariffs coming to effect, we would expect to see the same development also in the non China Asian countries. But again, we expect and of course, there's a lot of decision making happening by the administration, and we've got to see what's happening in the next couple of weeks.

So with the data points of sell in data, industry sell in and where we have a pretty good understanding about overall sell out, We expect that that's why I said earlier, we would expect a significant amount of preloaded inventory certainly as of early June. We think there's quite a bit of inventory which was sold through July 4. But of course, by definition, there's still quite a bit of inventory sitting out there. So and that's why we all said in Q3, we expect similar but gradually improving environment and dynamics than we've experienced in Q2. Again, similar from starting point, But of course, with every month passing by and the tariffs becoming in effect, we will see more of a normalization happening around us.

Okay. Yes, that's really helpful color. And the second question I have is related in terms of the North America major margins. It seems like the new guide is kind of flatter. Think I don't know if your comment about similar in 3Q just referenced the margin cadence.

I think the prior guide was for a step up in the back half. I'm assuming the new guide is largely a function of this kind of preloading effect, but maybe you can just break down that change in the margin guidance and the implied back half cadence in North America, that would be great.

Yes. So Michael, first of all, what you described is spot on. Yes, ultimately, the adjustment of the guidance is a direct reflection of continued delay for tariffs. Nothing has changed on fundamentals. We will be a net winner for tariffs.

We introduced a large amount of new products ever. And in the mid- long term, we will win in the housing environment. So that has not changed. It's just all the positive effects from these free catalysts are delayed or slightly delayed. And of course, that is a drag on our margin, certainly in Q3.

In Q4, we got to see. And that's why you also have seen it, we've given what I would call an unusual wide range of outcomes in the guidance. That's exactly because we can't right now foresee how rational the competitors will behave based on these tariff costs. And I think even though Q3 is pretty I mean, we have a pretty good sense about where it's coming out. But the tell sign will be really what do we see in the market in September, October and how Q4 turns out.

But again, I want to reemphasize, it's a delay. It's not a change of a fundamental investment story. The three reasons, which I mentioned earlier, are strongly more passionate than ever before believing them. And there are three fundamental critical catalysts for our growth in North America, But unfortunately, we're delayed more than we had originally in mind.

Yes. And just to add to that Michael, I think obviously as we've talked about with the additional imported inventory, it obviously has had an impact on the promotional environment. But also what that's impacted from our volume perspective is the leverage we get in our factories. And again as that eventually makes its way through the system and subsides it allows us then to get better leverage in our factories. I'd say today the cost actions we're taking we're seeing the benefits of.

We're seeing benefits of many of the pricing actions we've taken. But again we're operating in an environment where the volumes are just under pressure with all the product that's been imported into The U. S. Recently.

Your next question comes from the line of Susan Maklari from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Good morning. My first question is, looking at the SBA business, which had some really nice performance this quarter despite all the headwinds that you're facing there. Can you talk a bit about what has driven that and how you're thinking about the back half performance there, especially in terms of that segment margin?

Yes. Susan, it's Marc. I mean, first of obviously, we're very pleased with the FDA performance year to date. We had a very strong Q1. We had a very strong Q2.

And right now, it looks like we will also have a very strong Q3. So we feel very good about it. We have good momentum in the business. But two fundamental drivers are twofold. One is we're really benefiting from a new product, which we talked quite a bit here about Q4 last year in Q1, be it coffee makers, it the rising grain cooker, the portable appliances.

So we have really, really good momentum coming from a new product. But frankly, even our, call it, bread and butter, stand mixer business is doing well despite a market which is not really growing. So with new colors, new accessories, new boats, I mean, it's a good business, and we drive very strong product mix here. The second part is our direct to consumer business has been growing really nicely. So this is a, I would say, a business which is because everybody knows us then mix and many other products, which is almost geared towards a direct consumer business.

And we've seen very strong growth, in particular, North America. But also in Europe, where we already have a very significant portion of our business is direct to consumer business. So these were the two fundamental catalysts for the strong first half. Now the reason why we're still it's the SDA nature is SDA is very back half loaded by definition. There's a significant amount of revenues concentrated on Q3 and Q4, more so than a majors business.

That's why right now, I take these first two quarters with a smile and let's see how the rest turns out because we still know we still have a big mountain of time just given the seasonality.

I mean I think Susan also just the margins that we have in that business right now really speak to the strength of the brand and the products. And obviously we're very excited about it. But they've also had an impact of tariffs whether it's exporting to other countries outside The U. S.

Stand mixers or products that they've brought in from Asia. And again, despite that, you look at that business and the margins are completely on track. So again, I think that just goes back to tell you how strong that business really is.

Yeah. Okay. That's very helpful color. And then maybe turning to capital allocation and the decision to recommend the Board reduce the dividend. Can you just talk about how you're thinking of shareholder returns in this environment?

How that factors into your priorities and maybe the path from here as you do start to delever the balance sheet further?

Susan, I'll start off with that. And first off, we remain committed to return cash to shareholders and we remain committed to our dividend. And we also remain confident in our business. And I think that's critical to really say. And this as you heard in the prepared remarks, this was a deliberate action.

We didn't take this in terms of a short term decision. We really looked at where we are, what our capital allocation priorities are, where we want to invest that we want to continue to deleverage but we also want to invest in our U. S. Business because as you heard from Mark's comments, we really believe strongly in The U. S.

Housing market and that there will be a recovery here. And part of what we had to do is we had to look at not just the short term but also what we want to invest for the long term. And we felt at this time that reducing the dividend down to $3.6 on an annual basis is the right level and that's also very comparable to where we were in a pre COVID environment on similar types of earnings. So we feel it's the right level of return and we want to continue to return cash to shareholders, But we also feel it fits best with where the business is right now and where our priorities are.

Yes, Susan, maybe just smart from my perspective. Obviously, whenever you make the recommendation of the Board to take the dividend back to pre COVID level, it's not an easy decision. But ultimately, it comes down to we see a clear path to pre COVID margins on the respective use, and that's what we've gone reflected. Keep in mind, the existing dividend was set at the peak of COVID. Right now, we don't see a short term path to COVID type of peak margins.

But even more important, ultimately, it's a decision for it's not because of the funding, as you heard from Jim before, we are well funded, and I'm very pleased that we have this DKK 1,200,000,000.0 funding behind us. It is ultimately about we want to create the financial capacity going forward. We're very confident about the business. But I want to have frankly, I want to have capacity paying down debt. But frankly, also, with The U.

Whirlpool (WHR) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Company Participants