Harley-Davidson on Tuesday said its recent-quarter earnings fell 24% as the cost of tariffs from China and the European Union and weak sales in the U.S. hurt the bottom line. So, does Harley Davidson know what their future is and where they are going with it? AMERiders has a look into what they are having to say about it.
Harley said it earned $86.6 million in the three-month period ended Sept. 29, down 24% from $113.9 million in the same period a year earlier.
Let’s see what The Wall Street Journal Posted about the numbers…
The Milwaukee-based company, which has struggled to expand its ridership base globally, said its third-quarter revenue fell to $1.07 billion from $1.12 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected $1.04 billion of revenue in the quarter.
Shares of the company rose about 7% during premarket trading.
[…]
Motorcycle sales at retailers world-wide grew 2.7% compared with the same period a year earlier. Retail motorcycle sales in the U.S. declined 3.6% in the quarter and are down nearly 6% for the first nine months of the year.
Shipments of motorcycles fell 5.8% from a year earlier to around 46,000.
Overall, the company reported a profit of $86.6 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $113.9 million, or 68 a share, a year ago.
Harley says its future goals through 2027 are to grow international sales to 50% of the company’s annual motorcycle revenue, launch 100 new bikes, and expand to 4 million total riders in the United States.
The motorcycle maker recently said it was adding another component to its “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” road map for the future. Along with new products, broader access, and stronger dealers, it is now including “amplify brand” as a means of “enhancing the Harley-Davidson experience to inspire interest in riding, foster moto-culture, and build an even bigger, more passionate community of Harley-Davidson riders.”
It’s a nice sentiment, but results — and not flowery language — are what investors need to see.
Counting on electrics to save the day
Analysts are expecting a dismal third quarter as channel checks suggest sales are down between 5% and 10%, which would be on top of a horrendous double-digit decline a year ago.
Although Harley rolled out its new LiveWire electric motorcycle, it’s hardly a development holding back customers from buying a new bike. This isn’t like someone not buying an iPhone because a new model will soon be available. And at $30,000, it’s been priced out of the range of many potential buyers.
However, it didn’t get the rollout they really wanted it too as a bit later they had to stop production because of a “non-standard condition”, they said but started back up not very long after saying.
After completing rigorous analysis this week, we have resumed LiveWire production and deliveries. Customers may continue riding their LiveWire motorcycle and are able to charge the motorcycle through all methods. Temporarily stopping LiveWire production allowed us to confirm that the non-standard condition identified on one motorcycle was a singular occurrence. We take pride in our rigorous quality assurance measures and our drive to deliver the world’s best motorcycles.
The company has also admitted it views the pricey, high-performance motorcycle as more of a halo product bringing attention to the rest of the electric vehicle lineup to come.
But Harley still needs to prove it can succeed with its existing road map before charting new paths.
~And as always…
~Live Free Ride Hard~
~AMERiders
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