Harley Earns 86 Cents a Share

I was a bit too optimistic. Harley earned 86 cents a share.

Before the opening bell, the Milwaukee-based company reported first-quarter earnings of $234.6 million, or 86 cents a share, up from a year-ago profit of $227.2 million, or 77 cents a share.
Revenue rose 4% in the latest three months to $1.29 billion from $1.24 billion in the same period a year earlier.
These results compared to an average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call for a profit of 86 cents a share in the March period on revenue of $1.29 billion.
“Our dealers continued their retail sales growth momentum from the second half of 2005 as motorcycle sales increased by approximately 7 percent worldwide in the first quarter, said Jim Ziemer, the company’s president and CEO. “With the increased seasonality in our business, we are pleased with this retail sales performance.”
Global retail sales of the company’s motorcycles improved 6.9% in the first quarter from a year ago — U.S. sales saw a 5.8% increase for the period, while international sales jumped 11.6%. Gross margin for the quarter edged higher to 38.4% from 37.6% last year.
Looking ahead, Harley-Davidson said it plans to ship 78,000 of its 2006 model year motorcycles in the second quarter. It also expects production for the second quarter to include 13,000 2007 model year motorcycles that won’t be shipped until the third quarter.
The company anticipates wholesale unit growth of 5% to 9% and annual earnings per share growth of 11% to 17% for calendar 2006 with its wholesale shipment target still between 348,000 and 352,000 motorcycles.

Posted by on April 12th, 2006 at 9:34 am


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