Maytag Stock Drops 11% on Profit Warning

Maytag Corp. warned that first-quarter profit will fall because a large customer cut orders for soft-drink vending machines and stiffer competition hurt sales of Hoover vacuums. Maytag shares fell $3.88, or nearly 11%, to $32.50 in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The profit warning is the second in three quarters from the maker of Maytag, Jenn-Air and Magic Chef washers, ranges and refrigerators. In September, Newton, Iowa-based Maytag said competition for low-priced products would hurt earnings, a surprise announcement that sent its shares tumbling 26%. The stock has lost more than half its value from a high of $74.81 seven months ago. Maytag didn’t name the soft-drink bottler cutting orders. The Dixie-Narco and Hoover units account for almost one-third of revenue. The company said it expects profit in the first quarter ending in March to drop 10% from the 95 cents a share earned a year earlier. It had been expected to earn 96 cents, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial.