Winnebago's Earnings Call This morning...

[Mutha]

I Just got through reading Bob Olson's 3rd QTR. earnings report transcript from this morning's conference call and I thought some of you WGO guys might like to read it also. It is very bad because of the current economic conditions especially gasoline prices, but it is also very informative;

WGO 3rd QTR earnings call

Here is some of the text from the transcript:
".....

Quote:

Bob Olson Thank you Sheila. Good morning and welcome to Winnebago Industries' third quarter conference call. While our spring quarter is traditionally the strongest for Winnebago Industries and the RV industry, this year was certainly an exception. The motor home market has declined significantly with retail sales down double digit percents each of the last six months. This significance in market decline has further accelerated in recent months. Retail sales of class A and C motor homes calendar year to date through April are down 26.1% while March and April, the last recorded by statistical surveys are down over 30%. In addition to the declining retail market, dealer are currently reluctant to replace sold units on their lots on a one-to-one basis as they reduce their inventories and focus on increasing their dealership turn rates. Our dealer's inventory of Winnebago, Itasca and Era brand products at the end of the third quarter was 4,341 units, a decrease of 5.7% for the third quarter last year and 10.3% less than dealer inventory at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2008. We anticipate that dealers will continue to lower their inventories. Once the dealers and their customers regain confidence in the economy, both wholesale and retail activity should once again pickup and those manufacturers and dealers who have survived this downturn will be in a great position to meet the next upswing in the cyclical industry of ours......

Best to all - Glenn

[Mutha]

I Just got through reading Bob Olson's 3rd QTR. earnings report transcript from this morning's conference call and I thought some of you WGO guys might like to read it also. It is very bad because of the current economic conditions especially gasoline prices, but it is also very informative;

WGO 3rd QTR earnings call

Here is some of the text from the transcript:
"..... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Bob Olson

Thank you Sheila. Good morning and welcome to Winnebago Industries' third quarter conference call. While our spring quarter is traditionally the strongest for Winnebago Industries and the RV industry, this year was certainly an exception. The motor home market has declined significantly with retail sales down double digit percents each of the last six months.

This significance in market decline has further accelerated in recent months. Retail sales of class A and C motor homes calendar year to date through April are down 26.1% while March and April, the last recorded by statistical surveys are down over 30%. In addition to the declining retail market, dealer are currently reluctant to replace sold units on their lots on a one-to-one basis as they reduce their inventories and focus on increasing their dealership turn rates.

Our dealer's inventory of Winnebago, Itasca and Era brand products at the end of the third quarter was 4,341 units, a decrease of 5.7% for the third quarter last year and 10.3% less than dealer inventory at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2008. We anticipate that dealers will continue to lower their inventories.

Once the dealers and their customers regain confidence in the economy, both wholesale and retail activity should once again pickup and those manufacturers and dealers who have survived this downturn will be in a great position to meet the next upswing in the cyclical industry of ours...... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Best to all - Glenn

[John_Canfield]

Winnebago has survived the ups and downs of the last 30 years - granted the management has changed over the years but I think they are well-positioned (low debt overhead) to weather the storm.