Whirlpool CEO says company is coping with inflation challenges, sees easing supply shortages

Whirlpool is handling inflationary pressure and has seen supply chain shortages start to ease, CEO Marc Bitzer told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on “Mad Money.”

“Inflation challenges are real, but I think we’ve been able to demonstrate we can cope with them,” Bitzer said Monday. “Covid-induced inflation, I think we had a pretty good sense and we dealt with it very well. And we also thought we had a pretty good grip on inflation coming into this year.” 

Whirlpool missed Wall Street expectations on first-quarter sales and earnings, according to Refinitiv. Shares of the company rose about 2% during extended trading following an initial dip.

Bitzer said that Whirlpool is expanding capacity in the U.S but still expects industry-wide supply shortages to last through the rest of the year.

“I still believe in the future of American manufacturing going forward. We’re not going to change our mind,” he said. 

“Shortages will be around this industry probably for the entire ’22. However, they start easing. We start seeing them easing so it’s getting better, but it’s been a painful two years, to be honest,” he added.

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