Thor Sees Increased Sales

Thor Industries (THO - commentary - Cramer's Take) said Wednesday it expects sales for the fourth-quarter ended July 31 and full year to increase by 22% and 20%, respectively from their year-ago periods, on strong customer demand.

The R.V. and commercial bus manufacturer expects fourth-quarter sales of $803 million, compared with $660 million, a year ago. For the full year, it expects sales of $3.06 billion, compared with $2.56 billion, a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $778.3 million in the fourth quarter and $3.03 billion for the full year.

By segment, Thor expects fourth-quarter recreational vehicle sales to increase 23% from a year ago to $717 million, and bus sales to increase 13% to $86 million. For the full year, recreational vehicle sales are expected to increase 19% from a year ago to $2.75 billion and bus sales are expected to edge up 26% to $316 million.

The company said that in the recreational vehicle segment it increased its market share through May to 28.9%, compared with 27.2% a year ago.

Thor said it had backlog of $549 million on Aug. 1, an increase of 18% from the year-ago period. Recreational vehicle backlog was flat at $333 million and bus backlog rose 66% from a year ago to $216 million.

"In the past 60 days we have purchased 1,045,200 of our shares at a total cost of $46.4 million. We believe our shares represent unusually good value at current prices and we will continue our stock repurchase plan'', the Jackson Center, Ohio-based company said.

Thor's stock closed at $42.65, down 17 cents, or 0.4%, Wednesday.

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