Shares of Whirlpool Corp. rose more than 1% in the extended session Wednesday after the appliances maker reported first-quarter earnings that were above Wall Street expectations and raised its guidance. Whirlpool said it earned $433 million, or $6.81 a share, in the quarter, compared with $2.45 a share in the year-ago period. Sales rose to $5.36 billion, from $4.33 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report GAAP earnings of $5.45 a share on sales of $4.82 billion. Whirlpool raised its guidance for full-year net sales growth to 13%, compared with growth around 6% in a previous estimate. It increased its EPS estimate for the year to between $23.10 and $24.10, from between $17.80 and $18.80. The company earlier this week raised the dividend to $1.40. Shares of Whirlpool ended the regular trading day down 0.7%.
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