Wall Street Journal today: Rocky Road Ahead for RV Makers

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
Not totally related but I was looking for a particular brand of motorhome not knowing the manufacturer. After a bit of looking, I ended up on the "Forest River" Web site. All I can say is...WOW on the number of RV's in general made by this one company which I'm sure has gobbled up the smaller brands as they have become larger.


Just found it interesting but sad at the same time.

Warren Buffet has some cash

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
Not totally related but I was looking for a particular brand of motorhome not knowing the manufacturer. After a bit of looking, I ended up on the "Forest River" Web site. All I can say is...WOW on the number of RV's in general made by this one company which I'm sure has gobbled up the smaller brands as they have become larger.


Just found it interesting but sad at the same time.

Same story with Keystone-Thor.

There is a General RV on I96 in Wixom MI. I was always amazed at the huge stock of high end Class A coaches they had in stock. Went by there there a week ago and the front lot is EMPTY ! Nada, nothing. Looked pretty scary.

mike brez wrote:

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
Not totally related but I was looking for a particular brand of motorhome not knowing the manufacturer. After a bit of looking, I ended up on the "Forest River" Web site. All I can say is...WOW on the number of RV's in general made by this one company which I'm sure has gobbled up the smaller brands as they have become larger.


Just found it interesting but sad at the same time.

Warren Buffet has some cash

It's just too bad be doesn't want to reinvest any of that cash into building a better RV.

I can wholeheartedly agree with that....there are enough badly designed and worsely assembled around.

The info in this post doesn't surprise me one bit.

I always wondered how big that bubble could get.

Yesterday I went to an RV show at out local fairgrounds. It was put on by the largest dealer in our area. There were hundreds of RV's at all price levels. It was a beautiful sunny day(rare this season in Oregon), and at 1PM there wasn't more than a couple dozen people there, and there was no entrance fee either. The salesman were so bored, they just hung out with each other drinking coffee. I looked in most all class A's. One interesting thing is Winnie has introduced a European style interior in one of their class A's. The cabinets are an all a shiny ceramic look. No wood to be found, unless it's beneath the surface.

I don't see what all the hype is about. These companies (Thor, Winnebago, Forest River, etc.) are all dealing with complex financial strategies that likely confuse most of us. Heck, I own a fairly prolific business and even I struggle to understand the maneuvering that takes place at companies like this.

Keep in mind that this is nothing more than a blip on the map for financial readings. A one quarter or one year period isn't how any prudent investor judges the long term viability of any particular market.

There are new tax laws that went into place last year and this year. The strategies for behemoth corporations like this have to change in order to guarantee maximum profit for the stakeholders. The quote about Thor having an 80% drop in pre-tax profits (actually an oxymoron because corporations judge true profit as what's left over after taxes) may seem monumental to most people, but that might actually meant that they stand to make the same or more profit at year end due to tax strategies.

All I'm saying here is...nothing to see, move along.

WTP-GC wrote:

All I'm saying here is...nothing to see, move along.

We'll see if you're right a year from now.

gemsworld wrote:

WTP-GC wrote:

All I'm saying here is...nothing to see, move along.

We'll see if you're right a year from now.

Whether I'm right or wrong is mostly irrelevant. My point is that you can't judge what's going on without understanding how all things work together. You have new tax laws, changes in corporate structures, new ownerships, buyouts/sellouts that impact how you need to present the books, etc.

A simplistic view of the data would suggest that people just decided not to buy RV's during the period in review. However, my bet is that these corporations are positioning themselves so that the stakeholders receive the most benefit but the tax bill is the lightest...based on many factors of course.