Winnebago Stock Is Flying on Strong Earnings and Backlog
Winnebago Industries stock is jumping early Wednesday, on the heels of an upbeat fiscal second-quarter report from the motorhome maker, which indicated that it’s not seeing a slowdown even as other forms of travel slowly reopen to consumers.
Winnebago (ticker: WGO) said it earned $69.1 million, or $2.04 a share, up from 51 cents in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, which includes one-time items such as interest expense, earnings per share were $2.12. Revenue climbed 34% year over year to $839.9 million. Analysts were looking for EPS of $1.42 on revenue of $805 million.
Winnebago stock is up 5.5% to $81.40 in recent trading. The shares have climbed nearly 29% year to date, following a 164.3% gain in the past 12 months.
The company says that sales of towable vehicles grew 55% to $439.3 million, with both its Grand Design and Winnebago brands seeing robust demand. Motorhome sales jumped by 17% to $382.6 million, with the company calling out its Winnebago-brand Class B RVs.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic crimped travel, Americans who did take vacations were much more likely to drive than fly, a boon for Winnebago’s business. And while many investors have worried about the ability of pandemic winners to keep outperforming, Winnebago was able to report a strong backlog as well.
The company said its backlog for towable RVs grew 307% year over year, to almost 40,000 units; the backlog for motorhomes was even stronger, surging 424%, to nearly 15,000 units. “Interest in the outdoors remains high as evidenced by elevated order backlogs and retail sales growth,” the company said in its press release.
Write to [email protected]