HOG - Harley Davidson rides past earnings estimates despite production problems

Harley-Davidson ( NYSE: HOG ) shares jumped notably in premarket trading on Thursday after posting better-than-expected results for the second quarter and reaffirming full-year guidance.

For the reported quarter, the Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer notched GAAP EPS of $1.46 and $1.47B in revenue. The figures beat consensus estimates by $0.39 and $230M, respectively. The company also noted that revenue would have been 5 percent higher sans a two week shutdown of production during the quarter . Wholesale shipments fell 15% during the quarter due to the shutdown, being offset slightly by pricing actions taken by management.

The resilient report allowed the company to reaffirm full-year targets, including 5-10% revenue growth for the HDMC business alongside operating margin of 11-12%.

"Reaffirming our guidance for the year, despite the production suspension, demonstrates the effectiveness of our Hardwire ( OTC:HDWR ) strategy and the power of our brand." CEO Jochen Zeitz said. "Now with the suspension being behind us, we are fully focused on mitigating the impacts of the volume loss with the ambition to deliver on our Hardwire II goals, in year two of our five-year strategy."

Shares rose 4.96% prior to Thursday’s market open on the better-than-expected results.

To be sure, the company clarified that its outlook assumes that “manufacturing, logistics and material costs moderately improve in the back-half of the year as overall operations performance stabilizes” and also anticipates that the company moves “beyond the peak levels of inflation experienced in 2021.”

Read more on the planned SPAC listing of the LiveWire electric motorcycle business .

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