Winnebago Sales Slide. The Consumer Market ‘Remains Challenged.’

Winnebago Industries
stock was falling early Wednesday after the RV maker reported revenue that missed Wall Street expectations amid a difficult consumer environment.

Winnebago
(ticker: WGO) reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.59 a share on revenue of $771 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting the company to report earnings of $1.36 a share on revenue of $784 million.

In the same period last year, the company posted earnings of $3.02 a share on revenue of $1.18 billion.

“While the consumer market continues to be challenged and our fourth quarter results reflect a stubborn retail environment, we continued to see the benefits of our diversified portfolio on our results for the fiscal year,” Chief Executive Michael Happe said in a statement.

Shares of Winnebago were falling 3% Wednesday to $56.85. The stock has climbed 8% this year.

Winnebago is not the only RV company to feel the pinch of a struggling consumer amid rising interest rates and stubbornly high inflation. According to results for the RV Industry Association’s August 2023 survey of manufacturers, RV shipments for August dropped 17% compared to the prior year.

Winnebago’s financial performance was hitting other RV stocks. Shares of competitor
Thor Industries
(THO) were dropping 2.5% while
REV Group
(REVG) was down 2.8%.

Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]

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