Winnebago's revenue slides as RV sales plunge

AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

Winnebago vehicles for rent and sale are on display at a dealership in San Jose, Calif. The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 said that recreational vehicle shipments from manufacturers to dealers are expected to increase by nearly 4 percent to 361,400 units in 2015

• Winnebago Industries reported second-quarter earnings that beat estimates.
• Revenue for the recreational-vehicle manufacturer came in below expectations.
• Shares were little changed Monday.
• Watch Winnebago trade live.

Winnebago Industries reported second-quarter earnings of $0.68 a share, easily beating the $0.58 that analyst surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting. The earnings beat was driven primarily by a decreased tax rate as operating income decreased of 18% to $29 million, compared to $35 million in the second quarter of last year.

Despite the strong bottom-line beat, revenues for the recreational-vehicle manufacturer were light, coming in at $433 million, more than 7% below the $468 million that analysts were hoping for.

The results were driven primarily by a weakening in recreational-vehicle sales. Revenue for the Motorhome segment, which sells RVs, was down 17% to $164 million while revenue for the Towables segment, which sells travel trailers, fell 6% to $251 million.

"While the RV industry has been challenged over the past 6 months, we believe the wholesale shipment and retail sales equation will approach a new equilibrium during our fiscal Q3," Winnebago President and CEO Michael Happe said in the press release.

For fiscal year 2019, the company is forecast to earn $3.58 per share on revenues of $2.1 billion.

The stock was up less than 1% in pre-market trading and is up 21% for 2019.

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