Over the past few years RV industry sales have been white hot. Sales have practically defied logic and have inured to the benefit of shareholders in publicly-traded RV companies like Winnebago (WGO) and Thor (THO). I suspected when industry sales faltered the stocks of these companies would fall hard. That time could be nearing.
Winnebago Is Growing Like A Bad Weed …
In the past I was skeptical about Winnebago’s true revenue and earnings growth. It acquired Grand Designs in late 2016 for $500 million, which goosed growth. That deal has been consummated and its current results are on an apples-to-apples basis versus the prior year.
In its most-recent quarter Winnebago’s revenue was up 18% Y/Y, which was impressive. Revenue from Motorized homes was up 3%, driven by sales of new products, including the new Class C that was introduced during the quarter. Sales of Towables grew an eye-popping 33% on strong organic growth from the Grand Design and Winnebago branded lines. The company benefited from overall growth in the Towables RV market, but it also took market share across both brands.
Total deliveries of nearly 13,000 were up 23% Y/Y. Motorhome deliveries did not grow at all, while deliveries of Towables grew 31%. Of note is that the average sales price (“asp”) was stagnant – asp for Motorhomes was flat, while asp for Towables rose 1%. Read more:
