Polaris Industries Amazing Second Quarter Results

What a second quarter for the US motorcycle industry. Both Harley-Davidson and Polaris pulled a wheelie on Wall Street. First Harley-Davidson U.S. motorcycle sales rose on an annual basis for the first time in 5 years. Dealers sold more than 53,000 new motorcycles in the U.S. during the second quarter, up 7.5% from a year ago. A few hours later Polaris announced it’s amazing 2nd quarter results Net income increased 90% to $48.7 million with sales increasing 41% to $607.9 million. All product lines and geographic regions experienced increased sales during the 2011 second quarter. North America sales increased 43% and International increased 35%. Results for all divisions after the jump. 

15 Responses to “Polaris Industries Amazing Second Quarter Results”


  1. 1 Jeff Nicklus Jul 20th, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    This is exactly why I love my Polaris Stock. Polaris is a well oiled machine that understands how to generate a buck.

    Over & Out,

    Jeff

  2. 2 jonesy Jul 20th, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    Cyril, maybe your headline could read “Whoohoo! Victory on track to sell 6000 motorcycles this year! H-D will only sell 212,000…”

  3. 3 just my opinion Jul 20th, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Jeff; You are absolutely right Polaris is a great investment. Soon Polaris will be right up there with HD on the number of new bikes sold. American made bikes are great for American riders and our country in general. Whether you choose to ride HD or Victory Or Indian it is great to see our American motorcycle market doing better. This is a good day for both Harley enthusiast as well as fans of Victory- Polaris. Keep up the good work guys.

  4. 4 Vrat Jul 20th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    That’s it Jonesy, Polaris makes money selling hardware. HD makes money selling shirts and underwear. Not that there is anything wrong with that because there isn’t. HD is a brilliant marketing machine. As a business man and investor the diversity and long term performance of Polaris is why they are a “well oiled machine”. Big production numbers do not tell the story, GM & Chrysler are a good example of that.

  5. 5 Fernando Jul 20th, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    I wonder if this is market share taken from the imports, overall market growth, a reflex of the uptick in gas prices, more Baby Boomers retiring… any info on that?

  6. 6 Rick Lossner Jul 21st, 2011 at 7:11 am

    @jonesy .. you’re so confused 🙂 Hope your 401k is being managed by somebody competent, and you’re not at the helm .. … or at least .. not filled to the brim with HOG stock 🙂

    So many people miss the obvious… Victory/Indian are brands to be reckoned with in the future…. and Polaris.. a great stock to make money with .. .so .. you can fix them old HD’s in your garage 🙂

  7. 7 jonesy Jul 21st, 2011 at 7:53 am

    Vrat, Only about 15% of revenue at H-D is accessories, so they certainly do not “make money by selling t-shirts.” A couple commenters are singing the merits of Polaris as a stock. I won’t argue with that because I don’t know anything about snowmobiles or quadrunners, which is where all the revenue at Polaris comes from! I’m not bashing Victory either. I think they have some great products and, as I said before, the stronger they get, the more pressure H-D will feel to produce innovative and improved products, which will be good for us all. I just think the press coverage on Victory combines with strong in-house marketing to create an impression that they are a much bigger company than they are. It’s an interesting phenomenon and I one that I think is worth pointing out to folks. As for growth at Victory, they’ve been selling bikes since 1998 and are still only doing between 4K and 6K units a year. You can make a case for growth going forward if you like, but you won’t have history on your side, that’s for sure. Best of luck to all market competitors!

  8. 8 Vrat Jul 21st, 2011 at 8:23 am

    Jonesy, the press coverage in not on Victory, It is on Polaris.

  9. 9 Big Jul 21st, 2011 at 8:47 am

    Hey Vrat, according to the income statement above, Polaric made almost three times as much income selling apparal and accessories as on-road vehicles (motorcycles). BTW, your numbers about H-D’s percentage of income generated by apparel and accessories are grotesquely inaccuract, proving how incredibly biased and/or mis-informed you are about the industry.

  10. 10 jonesy Jul 21st, 2011 at 10:43 am

    Go look at the H-D 2010 10k for yourself: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/793952/000119312511045258/d10k.htm. You will see that total revenue for the year was $4,176,627,000. Motorcycles were $3,136,987,000 – 75.1%. Parts & Accessories were $749,240,000 – 17.9% and General Merchandise was $259,125,000 – 6.2%. So you see, gentleman, the facts are these: H-D makes their money from bikes and they sell 50 times as many as Victory.

  11. 11 Fernando Jul 21st, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Motorcycle sales among major brands rose 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2011, compared to the same period last year, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council’s Retail Sales Report.”

    I got this from KNOL…

    What does it mean… HD bounced back together with the market and is riding the wave…. NO KUDOS to them as a marketing organization… just a sign that the market is warming up…

    Seems like Polaris just stepped up their distribution overseas and took advantage of the dollar deval….

    this from another trustworthy source…

    day after the Indian Motorcycle news, Polaris reported its best quarterly results in at least four years. Q1 earnings per share jumped 127% to $1.34 a share vs. a year ago; in the first quarter of 2010, profits climbed 34%. CEO Scott Wine cited higher prices, lower warranty costs and favorable currency rates.

    The firm’s rising margins point to better overall execution. After-tax margin rose to 8.8% in Q1, up from 5.5% a year ago. Sales in the most recent quarter rose 49% to $537 million, stretching Polaris’ track record of 25%-plus sales growth to four quarters in a row. Off-road vehicle and snowmobile sales grew to $497 million, or 93% of total sales.

    High gasoline prices have not stopped customers from taking their vehicles to sand dunes and mountain bike trails. Wine notes that demand for all products has gained momentum since the industry began to recover in early 2010.

    Polaris says it’s gaining market share in the off-road-vehicle market partly because of new products such as the Ranger RZR XP 900, a side-by-side vehicle. The company is stepping up its sales in Europe; it opened a new regional headquarters in Switzerland earlier this year.

    The strong Q1 report sent Polaris shares rumbling to new highs on April 20; it gapped up 21% in the heaviest volume since Jan. 1. The stock has been pulling back modestly in mostly quiet trade.

    Polaris has paid $1.80 a share in dividends over the past four quarters, equal to a 1.8% annualized yield. Lower long-term debt and a big wad of cash in its coffers ($346 million as of March 31) allows the company to stay on the prowl for new acquisitions.

  12. 12 T Jul 22nd, 2011 at 7:27 am

    Back and forth Banter
    That’s great it’s a blog.
    My problem is anyone I know that owns a Polaris/ Victory has to constantly jabber about how good the bike is. Anyone I know on a Harley ……..mostly the weather……THE RIDE………… Usually when you have to constantly hype something ……..it’s lacking
    I gave up on the Victory crowd……..

  13. 13 Robert Pandya Jul 23rd, 2011 at 12:19 am

    Hey all – good to see the dialogue.

    As PR manager for Victory for the past four and a half years it’s been interesting to watch the change in consideration towards the brand. When I started the first product introduction was the Vision, and love it or hate it – that bike drew attention. The was no denying that there was another American brand on the market.

    As our overall market recovers, I do hope – as all who do at our company – that all brands find their successes. It’s what the industry needs. Of course the Polaris and Victory teams (and now Indian and GEM teams) want to beat the competition – but a rising tide you know…

    We are also not under the illusion that everybody must love our bikes. That said – in the past four and a half years, I’m seeing more riders throw a leg over our bikes, and come off of a demo ride impressed in much the same way I was when I first rode a Kingpin in 2005. The bikes are great, reliable, and backed by a solid engineering based company that has been positioned for stability and growth. Many are died in the wool with a closet full of a logo that they cannot imagine not being faithful to. That’s cool. But for the rest, give the bike a shot. We have three trucks full of demos at Sturgis – our biggest fleet ever. You’ll understand why our owners jabber on about how good the bikes are, even if it’s not for you.

    Happy trails – see you in Sturgis – or on the road getting there.

    Robert

  14. 14 Jim Jul 25th, 2011 at 9:57 am

    Honestly EVERY Harley rider should be ecstatic over this news! Because of Victory, HD is forced to build a better more advanced bike than they would otherwise. Think about it. Track the number of advancements pre-Victory and then the number over the last 9 years since Vic introduced the Vegas. Do you think the new touring frame in 2009 would have occurred without Vic pushing them? HD knew that Vic was going to introduce new touring bikes based on the CORE frame. They also knew their 10+ year old FLH frame couldn’t compete. Vic is American made and therefore has more clout than Yamaha or Honda. Harley doesn’t really care too much about what the japs do, however they can’t ignore Victory.

    The net of all this is everyone wins. HD makes better bikes to stay ahead of Vic, and Vic makes better bikes to compete with Harley. You may hate the Kingpin and love the Softail Deluxe, or you may hate the Softail Deluxe and love the Kingpin. The beauty is you now have a choice of an American motorcycle. It’s a great time to be a biker!

    Love Live HD and Long Live Victory!

    JMHO,

    Jim

  15. 15 Pin05 Jul 25th, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    Jim – Well said!

    T – What you said makes absolutely no sense. You are mad at Victory because people who buy and ride their bikes love them and talk about it? Seriously?

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Cyril Huze