Harley-Davidson profit declines 27% in Q1; Trump tweets on tariffs

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) reported its first quarter 2019 results before the market opened today. The cruise-bike maker’s adjusted EPS dropped 21% year-over-year to $0.98 and revenue declined 10% to $1.38 billion for the recently ended quarter. On a GAAP basis, net income decreased 27% to $127.9 million or $0.80 per share. Harley-Davidson stock was trading up about 1% in the pre-market trading today.

President Trump tweeted that European Union tariffs had impacted Harley-Davidson’s performance and he added, “So unfair to U.S. We will Reciprocate”. It’s worth noting that POTUS called for a boycott against Harley-Davidson last year after the company planned to shift some of its production to outside of the US to avoid the tariffs.

The impact of incremental tariffs amounted to $21 million in the first quarter of 2018. The impact of incremental tariffs included incremental European Union and China tariffs imposed on the company’s products shipped from the US and incremental US tariffs on certain items imported from certain international markets. Incremental tariff costs excluded incremental metals cost resulting from the US steel and aluminum tariffs.

For the full-year 2019, the Milwaukee-based firm expects motorcycle shipments to be in the range of 217,000 to 222,000 motorcycles. In the second quarter, the company expects to ship approximately 65,500 to 70,500 motorcycles.

Revenue from the Motorcycles segment was down 12% in the first quarter, hurt by lower shipments. This segment’s operating income decreased due to lower revenues, unfavorable product mix and increased tariffs.

HOG stock, which dropped 2.86% at $39.72 yesterday, has increased 16% since the beginning of this year and dropped 3% in the past 12 months.

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