A survey of 40 Harley dealerships suggests that retail sales improved in the first three months of the year, according to analyst Joseph Hovorka of Raymond James & Associates.
As the ground thaws, analysts note the fast approaching summer riding season and predict first-quarter U.S. sales up in the low-to-mid single digits for the same time one year ago.
Heather Goodwin, operations manager at Laugerman's Harley-Davidson, couldn't speak to that trend here in southcentral Pennsylvania, where a "very wet spring," she said, has put a damper on riding in the midstate.
"We're not sure if anything has improved," she said of the Manchester Township dealership. "You're not going to be out riding in the rain . . . That's just here locally. I don't know about overall across the country."
But the season is still young, she said.
"We need some nice sunny days," she added, "and more than one in a row."
According to Hovorka, only 23 percent of the dealers reported a year-over-year sales decline in the first three months of 2011, which was the least "down" showing since 2006.
"This marks the first time ever in our Harley-Davidson survey in which no dealers indicated too much inventory," Hovorka wrote.
This might not mean motorcycles, a luxury item, are flying off shelves. Dealers this year have less bikes in general, Goodwin said, due to Harley's allocation cut.
"They have cut down on the number of motorcycles they make," she said. "Dealers aren't getting as much as they used to."
They're also cutting costs and streamlining efficiency through a companywide restructuring, which started at the Springettsbury Township facility. The plans will save between $290 million and $310 million annually after 2013, the company says.
In late February, workers in Kansas City approved the final leg of the restructuring, authorizing a reduction in fulltime workers from 685 to 540.
Similar contracts were approved by union workers in Springettsbury Township and Milwaukee and Tomahawk, Wis., in December 2009 and September 2010, respectively. Last quarter showed that Harley was narrowing its losses.
For the 2010 fiscal year, bike sales were down 8.5 percent compared to a 22.7 percent loss in 2009 -- an improvement the company partially attributed to improved collection efforts by Harley-Davidson Financial Services, the company's arm that loans money to bike buyers. The company shipped 44,481 motorcycles worldwide during fourth quarter 2010, compared to 35,938 in fourth quarter 2009.
Harley made news early this year, when shares in mid-January hit a 52-week high of $37.16, up 73 percent from six months earlier.
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