Winnebago Industries Q2 Profit Climbs; Shares Rise

(RTTNews) - Motorhome maker Winnebago Industries, Inc. (WGO) posted higher profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2014, helped by motorhome unit growth, coupled with gross margin increase and incremental leverage of operating expenses. However, the earnings growth was mitigated due to various factors like severe winter weather conditions that led to inefficiencies and greater expenses.

For the quarter, net income advanced year-over-year to $9.59 million, or $0.35 a share, from $6.29 million, or $0.22 a share, last year. Operating income for the recent quarter went up by 58.2% to $14.0 million.

Quarterly revenues came in at $228.81 million, up 29.2%, versus $177.2 million in the prior-year quarter. This revenue growth mainly included motorhome unit growth of 44.8%, partially offset by lower motorhome average selling prices of 9.8% as a result of product mix.

During the six-month period, the company's net profit grew 51.6% to $20.7 million, earnings per share up by 54.2% to $0.74, with a 21.8% growth in revenues totaling $451.5 million. The improvement in sales mainly included motorhome unit growth of 37.5%, partially offset by lower motorhome ASPs of 10.0% as a result of product mix, according to the company.

In the pre-market trading, shares are currently up more than 8% at $28.88 on the NYSE.