What happened
Shares of Camping World Holdings, Inc. (CWH 2.60%) were down 12.5% as of 1:50 p.m. EDT Wednesday after the recreational vehicle retailer announced weaker-than-expected second-quarter 2018 results.
That's not to say Camping World's quarter looked "bad" at first glance. Quarterly revenue grew 13% year over year to a company-record $1.445 billion, and translated to 10.6% growth in adjusted pro forma net income to $85.6 million. Adjusted pro forma earnings per share rose 6.8% to $0.96.
However, most analysts were looking for higher earnings of $1.02 per share on a 16% increase in revenue.
IMAGE SOURCE: CAMPING WORLD HOLDINGS.
So what
"While the early part of the RV selling season was impacted by unseasonal weather," explained Camping World chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis, "we saw nice improvements as the second quarter progressed and our team did an excellent job of balancing our promotional activity to maintain strong profitability while driving sales growth and dramatically lowering our inventory levels of new RVs."
Meanwhile, the company continues to pursue growth opportunities, completing six dealership acquisitions and adding half a dozen new RV dealerships across the country. Camping World has also opened 52 Gander Outdoors stores in the first half, agreed to acquire Russ Dean RV in Pasco, Washington, and announced plans expand its number of RV sales locations by over 30% through 2019.
Now what
That's all well and good, and those growth initiatives might be enough to appease long-term investors. But our near-term-oriented market obviously wanted more from Camping World Holdings today. Given its top- and bottom-line shortfalls relative to expectations in the second quarter, it's no surprise to see the stock pulling back in response today.
