What happened
Shares of Winnebago Industries, Inc. (WGO -1.99%), a leading U.S. manufacturer of recreation vehicles used in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities, were soaring 14% as of 3:40 p.m. EDT after the company announced another solid quarterly earnings result.
So what
In the company's third-quarter fiscal 2017, revenue jumped 75% to $476.4 million, compared to the prior year's $272.1 million, with much of the gain driven by its acquisition of Grand Design. But don't let the acquisition take away from the strong result as revenue checked in well above analysts' estimates calling for $440.94 million.
Moving toward the bottom line, Winnebago's gross profit jumped 134% to $70.8 million with gross profit margins expanding 380 basis points thanks to a more favorable product mix and the aforementioned acquisition. On a per-share basis, Winnebago generated a profit of $0.61, but adjusted for one-time items, that bumped up to $0.94 per share, which was well above analyst expectations for $0.68 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
According to president and CEO Michael Happe, "Our third quarter results continued to reflect the journey we are on here at Winnebago Industries to build a larger, more profitable, full-line RV portfolio. The performance of our new Grand Design division and the associated integration activities continue to meet and even exceed our expectations, and are certainly accelerating our diversification within the still-growing North American RV industry."
Now with the acquisition mostly behind the company, it's all about developing more lean processes and manufacturing to take more of that top-line growth to bottom-line profits. If management can continue to achieve that, in addition to reducing debt -- it will shed $43 million in debt from its balance sheet during the third quarter -- it shouldn't be the last strong quarter from Winnebago Industries.
