Posted on 07/21/2017 8:13:13 AM PDT by Lorianne
Shares of Harley-Davidson (HOG) dropped 10% in the morning after the company reported second-quarter earnings and were down nearly 6% at the end of the day. Almost everything was bad.
Retail sales by its dealers in the US fell 9.3% in Q2, compared to a year ago, to 49,668 motorcycles. They were “down more than we anticipated,” the company said. And with “soft sales across most markets,” sales by its dealers globally fell 6.7%.
“Industry new motorcycle sales deterioration continued,” the company said in its presentation, lamenting “weak industry sales on soft used bike prices.”
In addition to the industry woes, its market share in Q2 in the US dropped 1 percentage point to 48.5%. Shipments in the quarter fell 7.2% to 81,807 and are down 10.8% year to date.
The 30-day delinquency rate on its $7.5 billion in motorcycle loans outstanding rose to 3.25%, from 3.16% a year ago, and from 2.7% in Q2 2015. The annualized loss experience on those loans reached 1.71%, the highest for any second quarter since 2010.
Total revenues fell 5.6% to $1.58 billion. Net income fell 7.7% to $258.9 million. And despite blowing $163.2 million on share buybacks in the quarter to lower the share count and thus prop up earnings per share, earnings per share fell 4.5% to $1.48.
Its dealer inventory is bloated, so it offered incentives on its 2016 bikes to clear them out, and that didn’t help its 2017 models, but it said bravely that it is “targeting significantly lower year-end US dealer inventory.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wolfstreet.com ...
Young urban Asians are much larger than that
Such thinking tells us why you are not rich
I have a feeling that larger high-performance bikes are all going to see slackening interest soon. The overall shift towards treating modes of transportation like appliances is penetrating down to the "biker" demographic (historically a harder-core version of the automotive hot-rodder).
Young people don't want cars or bikes, they want little silent bubbles of autonomously-guided safe space where they can stay uplinked to the nearest source of social media.
Harley purchased Buell outright in 2003 to capture a greater share of the overseas and changing US market. They discontinued Buell in 2009 to focus on the Harley brand.
Eric Buell Racing started up again in 2009 but is shutting operations this year.
Kawasaki builds bikes in Omaha or nearby...
The Harley boom of a decade ago was just a bubble, as a bunch of dentists and CPAs got to live out their “Wild Bunch” dreams.
Now, with their lumbago flaring up and their lasik surgeries pending, they’re selling off their toys. The market is shrinking, and Harley is going to face some tough times in the next decade.
Can-Am and Slingshot
For long trips, I thought a Aspencade Goldwing or other touring bike is the way to go.
THAILAND !!!!!!!! ?
Those are to motorcycles what a go-cart is to NASCAR.
Overpriced is a gross understatement. A totally equipped Honda or Kawasaki cruiser can be had for about half the price of a Harley and with the Japanese bikes you are not giving up anything as far as quality or dependability.
I was surprised to hear that my brother in law sold his Street Glide recently. He said he is tired of taking his life into his own hands every time he has to share the road with the terrible drivers out there.
Still have Heritage but the concern about the hazards is taking away the fun.
2 weeks ago a guy on a bike hit a hole left in the road by a careless backhoe operator and crashed and "ground most of his face off". Shortly after that a guy died when he t-boned a car that didn't stop for a light.
Two years ago the safety guy who worked with our company was killed when t-boned by a pick-up truck.
“The number ONE reason for buying a Harley has always been that it was Made in The USA.”
Mostly. The carburetor and ignition are Japanese AFAIK.
And riding “safe” (full face helmet, leathers) really kind of kills the “open road and freedom” image of motorcycles. Not to mention making you boil in your own juices the minute the temperature gets above 80.
They’re also taking away H-D’s number one demographic, well-off oldsters.
You can’t “legally” ride a Harley because of your height? Those styles of bikes have a low seat height.
Kind of looks like the ARs for sale on Armslist.
Finally, people who are inclined to buy new are waiting for the M8 motor on the 2018 HDs. It's supposed to be a game changer.
I don't own a Harley. I ride a Triumph Tiger, but I belong to a Harley forum. Lifelong Harley riders bemoan declining quality control on bikes that cost over $20,000.
HD is apparently controlled by accountants, not riders.
My uncle Paul had a basement full of gorgeous Indians, including a red Chief and a beautiful white one with a sidecar. It’s been a long time since he passed ... but the memories. I’d love to have one of the new ones, but I’m not a biker, and I have no desire to become road pizza.
So, I’ll just look at the pretty pictures, and dream. The only Chief in my garage will be my Pontiac.
(sigh)
forks also. I ride a BMW R1200RT every day to work here on Kitsap. Its far more agile and steady in rain than my old Road King. Almost any Japanese, German, or Italian bike is better engineered than the HD.
And probably the Voltage regulator, mine of which is on the fritz right now.
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