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Home appliances maker Whirlpool of India beat first-quarter profit estimates on Monday, helped by strong demand for its air conditioners and refrigerators amid hot weather in the country.

Whirlpool's India unit posted consolidated net profit of 1.44 billion rupees ($17.3 million) in the quarter ended June 30, compared to 748.8 million rupees an year ago.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 1.27 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.

Revenue from operations rose nearly 23% to 24.97 billion rupees, the company said.

KEY CONTEXT

India's summer extends from March to May, but many cities experienced unusually warm weather in June as well, which led to an increase in consumer spending on cooling appliances.

Analysts noted that the country's consumer durables sector enjoyed robust demand despite higher prices, although a rise in cost of raw material such as copper and aluminium weighed.

Rival home appliances maker Havells India reported a smaller-than-expected first-quarter profit, as higher expenses offset improved demand for its air conditioners and fans.

Blue Star and Voltas are yet to report results.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

months) months)

RIC PE EV/EBITD Price/ Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div yield (%)

A Sales growth(%) growth (%) rating* analysts price

target**

Whirlpool of India 65.71 39.18 2.78 12.34 42.90 Hold 10 1.27 0.24

Blue Star 56.14 37.42 -- 20.75 35.42 Buy 19 1.18 0.41

Havells India 64.94 44.82 4.98 20.06 26.90 Buy 21 0.97 0.49

Voltas 56.87 43.42 2.64 16.49 103.94 Hold 34 1.09 0.37

* Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** Ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 83.7226 Indian rupees