What happened?
Shares of Thor Industries, Inc. (THO -2.81%), a manufacturer of towable and motorized recreational vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, are bouncing 12.8% higher as of 1:30 p.m. EST, after the company topped Wall Street analysts' estimates on the bottom line.
So what
Investors and management teams love records, and Thor roped in a number of them during its first quarter of fiscal 2018. Its sales jumped 30.6% to a record $2.23 billion, followed by record net income of $128.4 million, a staggering 63.1% increase. That generated record earnings per share of $2.43, which easily thumped analysts' estimates calling for $1.83 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
Said Bob Martin, Thor President and CEO, in a press release:
Thor has begun fiscal 2018 with another quarter of exceptional growth at both the top and bottom line. Industry demand remains exceedingly strong. During the quarter, we leveraged the strength in industry demand to drive increased profitability across both segments of our business through a combination of increased output from recently added production capacity, enhanced scheduling and optimization of production runs at our existing facilities, as well as various initiatives implemented across the Company over the last year to improve operating efficiencies.
Now what
Management believes the near term to be equally bright for the company's results. Thanks to industry fundamentals that are being fueled by positive employment, wage trends, and broad economic improvement, the company will likely be able to take advantage of enthusiastic dealer demand from its September open house event. At least one analyst agrees as Baird Equity Research's Craig Kennison maintained Thor's Outperform rating and boosted the price target from $136 to $160 -- a slight premium to Tuesday's $153 trading price, as of 1:45 p.m. EST.
