Thor Industries, Inc. (THO), a recreation vehicle maker, announced Monday a loss in the second quarter, compared to a profit in the year-ago period, hurt by a recession-driven slump in sales and one-time charges.
Thor reported a second-quarter net loss of $14.86 million, or $0.27 a share, compared to net income of $21.60 million, or $0.39 a share, in the previous year. Results for 2009 included $1.85 million related to impairment of auction rate securities.
Gain on sale of property for the quarter was $373 thousand, compared to $2.31 million, in the corresponding period last year.
However, a tax benefit of $8.09 million, compared to a tax expense of $13.60 million helped reducing the wide gap between the second-quarter results.
On an average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of $0.17 per share in the second quarter. Analysts' estimate typically excludes special items.
Sales for the quarter plunged to $226.68 million from $599.17 million in the year-ago period.
For the year-to-date period, net loss was $9.74 million or $0.18 a share, compared to $59.81 million or $1.07 a share last year.
Sales for the six months decreased almost by a half to $665.5 million from $1.36 billion, in the same period last year.
Recreation Vehicles, or RV, sales in the quarter declined to $134.57 million from $505.27 million, while bus sales marginally dropped to $92.11 million from $93.90 million in the prior-year period.
The company, which has no debt on its balance sheet, reported cash, cash equivalents and investments to be $310.1 million as on January 31, 2009, up from $234.3 million last year.
Wade Thompson, Thor chairman said that Thor suffered its first loss in over 17 years, reflecting the recession, ebbing consumer confidence, and strict credit restrictions.
Thompson added, "We were the only manufacturer in 2008 to increase our market share in all four major RV categories, travel trailers, fifth wheels, Class As, and Class Cs. The Bus industry is expected to benefit from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal stimulus package, which includes $8.4 billion for mass transportation"
THO is currently trading at $10.00, down $0.47 pr 4.49%, on the NYSE.
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