Thompson Research Group founding partner and CEO Kathryn Thompson on Thursday examined Thor Industries’ fiscal first quarter financial results released Wednesday.
Thompson said the company’s short-term outlook might be choppy because of macroeconomic factors beyond its control, but the long-term outlook remains solid.
To bolster her view, she said short-term downside scenarios look far better than the industry’s 2009 performance.
“Gross margins hit 10% in 2009,” Thompson said about Thor, “and Thor Industries is guiding to a bottom range of 14.2% for fiscal 2023.”
The difference, she said, is the industry downturn is related to consumers’ purchasing ability, not buyer interest.
“Thor Industries indicated that web traffic is at an all-time high, and there is a larger potential buyer pool now than pre-Covid,” Thompson said.
When interest rates fall, Thompson said the RV industry will benefit quicker than others, like the industry’s pandemic boom increase and its decrease following rising 2022 interest rates.
