| Author | Message | ||
     Phatkidwit1eye |
Harley-Davidson Faces SEC Probe, Posts Lackluster Quarterly Results A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP July 13, 2005 10:52 a.m. NEW YORK -- Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc. said the Securities and Exchange Commission is probing the company's April announcement that it would limit short-term production and lower its target for motorcycle shipments. Also Wednesday, the Milwaukee-based company posted second-quarter profit of $237.4 million, or 84 cents a share, compared with $247.2 million, or 83 cents a share, on a larger share count, a year earlier. The latest quarter's profit was a nickel above Wall Street estimates compiled by Thomson First Call. Revenue rose 0.4% from a year earlier to $1.33 billion, while motorcycle shipments declined to 77,128 from 82,034. The company raised its outlook for 2005 earnings growth to a range of 10% to 13%, up from the previous estimate of 5% to 8%. In April, Harley-Davidson said it planned to ship 329,000 motorcycles this year, up from last year's 317,000 units but below an original target of 339,000 motorcycles. The company also lowered earnings forecasts for the year, citing weak first-quarter sales and a glut of unsold 2005 models. In response, Harley-Davidson shares plunged nearly 17% to their lowest price in more than 14 months. After the announcement, shareholder complaints were filed in a Wisconsin federal court. In an 8-K filing with the SEC on Wednesday, Harley-Davidson said SEC staff is investigating "matters relating generally to certain claims made in lawsuits recently filed by shareholders against the company." The company said the lawsuits are without merit and that it is cooperating with the SEC. In light of the pending shareholder litigation, it added that it wasn't surprised by the inquiry. In multiple complaints, shareholders have alleged that Harley-Davidson misrepresented or disregarded certain facts -- including that the gap between consumer demand for Harley's products and the available supply had disappeared; that the company, in an effort to mask the decline in demand, shipped excess inventory to dealers; and that the profitability of the company's financial-services division was being hurt by interest rate fluctuations. Certain complaints allege that shipments to dealerships exceeded demand by tens of thousands of units in 2003 and 2004, and that annual shipment numbers significantly overstated the company's progress toward its 2007 retail sales goal. | ||
| Chainsaw |
Call me a "glass is half full" kinda guy, but does that mean I'll be able to get a smokin' deal on a new Road King Custom???  | ||
| Davegess |
Sound to me like the motor company is doing better than they thought they would and better than wall street thought they would so those folks who got pissed about the stock going down should now be happy about the stock going up. the lawsuit looks like a bunch of hooey to me. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Ahhhh... the American way, when all else fails sue!..... What a joke....Quit buying stock and buy a bike!! lol My penny of thought....lol | ||
| Court |
>>>In multiple complaints, shareholders have alleged that Harley-Davidson misrepresented or disregarded certain facts Actually fairly old news....I've been corresponding with the Plantiff's attorney and his paralegal. If these folks can't do any better than this for legal counsel they'll be toasted in court. Entirely frivolous. Good novel, poor jurisprudence. All hail Prosser. Court | ||
| Court |
By the way, HD is not "in trouble" with the SEC and that's a gross mischaracterization. Few folks know more about the SEC than my SCU who's served as an expert consultant on a number of securities shananigans. Some of you recall when the city in IL tried to get into the electrical future commodities market several years ago and lost about $100M on a warm summer afternoon. It was then I knew I loved this woman....folks from around the world flew to Chicago, she ended up being the lead and the only one smart enough, in the end after who knows how much had been spent, to declare....."there's no fraud, the guys just a stupid idiot". She got rave reviews and the city stopped letting the meter reader trade commodities. HD is in dandy shape and the SEC investigates LOTS of stuff all the time. Court | ||
| Sportsman |
You know suits like this cost everybody a big portion of their money. Corp's have to pay their lawyer before employees, you have to pay more for anything you buy, and more taxes to keep the court system going in it's full glory. Judges should refuse to acknowledge any case that is presented by a lawyer that looses 3 times. Never happen, but what a nice dream. | ||
| Dfbutler |
I happened to be at a Harley dealer the day the corporate announcement went out and watched the corporate telecast with the owner of the dealership (the TV feed was in the customer waiting room). His response to the $12 per share drop that day was, "I'm going to buy some stock." I did too that day. It's up $2 and change from where I bought it. I got no beef... | ||
| Rek |
So...if HD stock goes down as a result of this news it might be a good time to buy? Rob | ||
| Bomber |
this has been brewing for a while now -- being investigated ain't being in trouble, specially since Enron/Worldcom and Sarbannes-Oxley -- the feds have decided to be rigorous in ivestigating these things (there's literally hundreds of investigations that don't make page 1 above the fold) part of me cheers the greater level of scrutiny, as I was peripherally affected by the Worldcom situation (as many were), while the other part of me is cranky over the feds acting like watchdogs to protect under-informed investors -- my prediction is that this suit will never make it past the first day or two of court (not at all if it was in Englnd, who has a perhaps more rational way of dealing with these things) equally intersting, to me, is HD's suit against some of the aftermarket engine manufacturers -- anyone wanna make book on how THAT goes? |
