Polaris Industries, Arctic Cat post increases

Less than average snowfall in a large portion of the United States may have frozen snowmobile sales, but ATVs continue to leave showroom floors at a good pace and, as a result, two manufacturers located in the traditionally snow-covered North reported record earnings in their most recent financial statements.
Polaris Industries, Inc., (NYSE: PII)(PSE: PII), says net income for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002, was $35 million, an 11% increase over the $31.7 million in net income posted for the fourth quarter 2001. Sales for the fourth quarter 2002 totaled $431.5 million, up 3% from fourth quarter sales of $419.8 million posted in 2001.
For the full year ended Dec. 31, 2002, Polaris reported net income of $103.6 million, a 13% increase over the net income of $91.4 million posted for 2001. Sales for the year ended Dec. 31, 2002, totaled $1.52 billion, up about 2% from the nearly $1.49 billion in sales posted for 2001.
Polaris’ snowmobile sales declined 16% for the fourth quarter 2002, and dropped 21% for the full year 2002, when compared to results from 2001. However, the company says its ATV sales during the fourth quarter 2002 increased 12% over ATV sales in the fourth quarter 2001. Full year ATV sales were an estimated 13% over ATV sales during the full year 2001.
Arctic Cat, Inc., (Nasdaq: ACAT), says it ended its third quarter, Dec. 31, 2002, with net earnings of $11.9 million, compared to the $8.3 million in net earnings posted for the same period last year. Arctic says net sales of $176.2 million for the third quarter 2003 were up 5% over the $167.9 million in net sales posted for the third quarter 2002.
For the nine-month period, ended Dec. 31, 2002, net earnings were $34.4 million compared to $30.4 million posted for the same period a year earlier. Net sales for the nine-month period 2003 were $465.7 million compared to sales of $456.8 million posted for the nine-month 2002.