Visit our Popular Forums

Al - K4GLU · 03-19-2009, 07:08 AM

Winnebago posts 2Q loss as RV sales slide

Email this Story

Mar 19, 7:57 AM (ET)

p {margin:12px 0px 0px 0px;} FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) - RV maker Winnebago Industries says it lost more than $10 million in its second quarter as RV sales continued to slide.
The Forest City, Iowa, company says it lost $10.4 million, or 36 cents per share, in the quarter ended Feb. 28. That's compared with a profit of $2.5 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue plunged 81 percent to $31.8 million from $164.2 million.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a narrower loss of 31 cents per share on $42.7 million in revenue.
Chief Executive Bob Olson said Thursday falling sales of recreation vehicles have led to severe declines in revenue for the first half of the fiscal year.
Shares of Winnebago closed Wednesday at $5.44.

Silvertwinkie · 03-19-2009, 07:27 AM

Great post. I was wondering when we'd hear from Winne. $5/share seems a bit pricey. It's just a sad state of the times. Like you said, a least it isn't a bankruptcy announcement like Fleetwood laid out a week or two ago. Thor's stock has gone up, but in this uncertain time, that may not mean much if the 20 million dollars in loans to Camping World are defaulted on and the RV sector does not get some sales.

Bad news today is that oil is on the uptick...higher fuel costs are not what the RV industry needs to see right now. Hopefully we won't be around $3/gallon or more this season. If we do, I think Winne may fall to the same fate of Fleetwood and so many others.

**moosetags** · 03-19-2009, 07:28 AM

At least they are trading higher than Ford and GM.

Brian

Silvertwinkie · 03-19-2009, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moosetags

At least they are trading higher than Ford and GM.

Brian

Which frankly isn't a comfort or a good litmus test. If you think about it, the gov is not going to shovel money into an RV builder where maybe 1 job in 100 or 200 is lost. The big 2.5, even if they slip lower, the gov will continue to shovel cash into their blast furnaces because 1 in every 10 jobs is tied to the domestic auto industry and would in fact have a devastating effect on the econ. If any one of them dropped to bankruptcy, the other two would be shortly behind and the unemployment and pension costs to the gov would be much higher than shoveling cash in the form of loans to the domestic automakers. Heck in comparison to AIG, the domestic builders are a better investment at a far less cost than we've given AIG or similar banks. But back to the stock price of Winne, let's all revisit that by the end of the year and see if the higher stock price means anything. This season could be a make or break for Winne as it could for the domestics as well....with the difference that the domestics will get most of the help they need as outlined by the current administration.