[azrider]

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HDI) today announced record revenue and earnings for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2005. Revenue for the quarter was $1.34 billion compared with $1.22 billion in the year-ago quarter, a 9.9 percent increase. Net income for the quarter was $230.0 million compared to $209.0 million, an increase of 10.1 percent over 2004. Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share (EPS) were 84 cents, an 18.3 percent increase compared with last year's 71 cents.

Revenue for the full year was $5.34 billion, compared with $5.02 billion in 2004, a 6.5 percent increase. Net income for the year was $959.6 million, a 7.8 percent increase versus last year's $889.8 million, while diluted EPS for the full year were $3.41, a 13.7 percent increase compared with $3.00 in 2004.

"Today Harley-Davidson is celebrating an exciting milestone of twenty consecutive years of record revenue, earnings and retail motorcycle sales," said Jim Ziemer, Chief Executive Officer. "As we reflect on our performance in 2005, we had many accomplishments. We shipped 329,000 motorcycles, which is a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. Worldwide retail sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles increased 6.2 percent during 2005. Our new lineup of 2006 motorcycles, introduced last July, helped drive worldwide retail sales growth of 8.3 percent in the second half of the year. During 2005, our international motorcycle sales grew significantly and motorcycle sales to women continued to increase, demonstrating that our strategies in these areas are beginning to take hold," said Ziemer.

"We believe the prospects for retail growth remain strong and support a wholesale unit growth rate in the range of 5 to 9 percent annually and an annual EPS growth rate of 11 to 17 percent," said Ziemer. "Our Harley-Davidson motorcycle shipment target for 2006 remains in the range of 348,000 to 352,000 units, with planned wholesale shipments of 79,000 motorcycles during the first quarter," he said.

 

[fourstar]

It's a ruse! Sell! Sell! Sell!

 

[Bones73]

I wonder how much of that revenue is from dog collars, coffee cups, t-shirts, and boatloads of other useless crap that they put their names on.:whatever:

 

[timbo]

Surely Dirty Jim will tell us how the mirrors were setup and how many pellets were added to the smoke machine for this announcement.:265:

 

[Fatb0y]

I wonder how much of that revenue is from dog collars, coffee cups, t-shirts, and boatloads of other useless crap that they put their names on.:whatever:

More than they are willing to admit.

 

[DeaconK]

If you're stockholder, does it matter how many branded items they sell? You're still making $$$.:dunno:

 

[Fatb0y]

The simple answer to that would be no, but assume you were always loosing more and more money each year producing your main product while you were just holding on to profits making apparrel. How long would you keep producing the main product?

There are no simple answers to the bottom line of a company. The only truth is that you have to keep all parts of your business profitable for it to function properly.

 

[JamieWG]

I don't care how they make it, as long as they make it. It's a made in the USA brand... at least most of it is.

 

[Bhawk]

Very interesting. How do planned motorcycle shipments compare to last year? If they are not up, the market may still not like this. I assume - maybe I'm wrong - that there is some level of penetration at which Harley will max out -- they don't have an indefinite market, after all. On the plus side, or maybe that's not the right term, I do notice that Harley's are becoming the new 'golf'. I see people establishing business relationships over a ride on a Harley that might once have been done at the club.

 

[Fatb0y]

I don't care how they make it, as long as they make it. It's a made in the USA brand... at least most of it is.

Be sure you are clear on that. The last time I looked into any of their apparrel it says in big clear words, "Made In China".