Harley-Davidson Q4 U.S. retail sales up 10-13 percent, analyst says
U.S. retail sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles in October-November quarter-to-date “are tracking up 10-13% driven by strength across all Harley product families,” according to a research note provided to Powersports Business by Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder.
Conder goes on to write that “October yr/yr gains were stronger as November experienced normal season deceleration. We expect further seasonal and weather led deceleration in December. For the first time we heard dealer commentary that retail could have been even stronger were it not for some consumer concerns related to higher Obamacare related health insurance premiums cutting into disposable income.”
Conder adds that Wells Fargo Securities assumes that approximately “10,000 Street units will be shipped from April through year end with 2,400 units of the Street 500 sku shipped in Q214 to the [approximately] 200 U.S. dealers offering the Rider’s Edge program. Collectively we assume 4,000 Street units will be shipped and retailed in the U.S. and 6,000 shipped/4,500 retailed internationally during 2014.”
Conder rates HOG as “outperform.”