Thor stock set to rally after big earnings beat and record revenue

Shares of Thor Industries Inc. were indicated up nearly 5% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the recreational vehicle (RV) maker reported a big fiscal third-quarter earnings beat, as results were boosted by increases in both average sales prices and units sold. That helped offset a recently lowered industry outlook for RV demand for the year. Net income for the quarter to April 30 surged to $348.1 million, or $6.32 a share, from $183.3 million, or $3.29 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $4.77. Sales grew 34.6% to a quarterly record of $4.66 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $4.19 billion, as North America towable RV sales rose 53.0% to $2.64 billion and North America motorized RV sales increased 35.8% to offset a 19.0% decline in European RV sales. Gross margin improved to 17.3% from 14.6%. The strong results come amid a recent moderation in North America retail demand, as the RV Industry Association has recently cut its wholesale forecast for calendar 2022 shipments in the region to between 537,800 and 561,900 units from between 578,800 and 603,300 units. The stock has dropped 26.5% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has shed 12.7%.

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