John A. Olin
Analyst · William Blair
Thanks, Keith, and good morning, everyone. I'll review the first quarter financial results, starting on Slide 9. During the quarter, Harley-Davidson, Inc. consolidated revenue was up 9.9% to $1.6 billion. Our first quarter net income improved to $224.1 million, an increase of $52.1 million or 30.3%. Similarly, diluted earnings per share rose to $0.99 per share, up 33.8% from the year-ago quarter. Operating income for the Motorcycles segment was $276.8 million, up 33.0% compared to last year's first quarter. The strong increase at the Motorcycle business was driven by an 11.1% increase in revenue, as shipments were up 17.1%. Additionally, Motorcycles segment operating income benefited from higher gross margin and lower restructuring spending. Operating income at Harley-Davidson Financial Services was up 6.1%, behind higher net interest income. We are very pleased with our first quarter results. Now let's take a look at retail on Slide 10. Worldwide retail sales of new Harley-Davidson motorcycles were down 9.1%, reflecting weather in the U.S. and macroeconomic challenges that continue in Europe. Despite these factors, the Harley-Davidson brand is strong and is benefiting from the success of our key growth strategies. We, along with our dealers, continue to invest in the Harley-Davidson experience, including our remarkable products, expanding the reach of the brand to new customers in the U.S. and expanding our international distribution. We continue to gain momentum and market share in many key markets. And we believe we are on track to deliver our full year shipment guidance of 259,000 to 264,000 units or up approximately 4.5% to 6.5%. On Slide 11, you'll see dealers in the U.S. posted solid Q1 2013 retail sales results, especially when considering the tough year-over-year comparison of about 25.5%, as well as the challenging economic environment. Last year's sales results during the first quarter were driven by the mildest weather across the United States in over 100 years, which we believe pulled sales forward from the second quarter of 2012. Against this backdrop, U.S. retail sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles were down 12.7% while the heavyweight motorcycle segment was down 16.5%. Dealer retail inventory in the U.S. increased 13,300 units in Q1 of 2013, which we believe was driven by higher shipments, largely enabled by the successful implementation of surge manufacturing at York. The increase in inventory will improve product availability from the tight levels experienced in 2011 and 2012. We also expect higher year-over-year inventory in the second and third quarters of this year and reduce Q4 inventory in anticipation of additional surge capability in the first half of 2014. Before we discuss market share, I want to point out a change in how we report heavyweight motorcycle industry and market share data. In order to more closely align with the universal market definition, we now define heavyweight motorcycles to have at least 601 cubic centimeters of engine displacement. Previously, our definition of heavyweight included motorcycles with engine displacements of at least 651cc. The sheer difference between the 601cc and 651cc segments is small. For example, full year 2012 share of the 651cc segment in the U.S. was 57.2%, while our market share of the 601cc segment was 53.9%. A 5-year history of both market segmentations is available on the Investor Relations section of our website. Now during the first quarter, Harley-Davidson share of the 601cc heavyweight market strengthened by 2.2 percentage points versus prior year to 55.9%, which represents another record quarter of market share. Our strong market share gains were driven by the strong appeal of the Harley-Davidson brand and products. Keith highlighted the latest data illustrating our strong brand relevance across generations and continued its success in attracting new and diverse riders. But there's another part to this story. We also believe we have a long-term opportunity when you look at population trends from the U.S. Census Bureau. Take a look at the chart at the bottom right-hand corner of Slide 11. The blue line represents Caucasian men ages 35 to 74, our traditional customer base in the population segment that has represented the largest portion of U.S. retail sales for many years. As the blue line shows, this pool of approximately 50 million people is expected to be stable and strong through at least the year 2050 as new generations move into and through this population segment. The red line represents the U.S. population of young adults ages 18 to 34, women, Hispanics and African-Americans. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that this pool, which is 3x larger than our traditional customer base today, will grow at an annual rate of about 0.75% to more than 200 million people between now and 2050. These are the same outreach demographic segments in which Harley-Davidson has established a clear leadership position. In 2012, retail sales to these groups grew at more than twice the rate of sales to our traditional customers. Taken together, our strategy to focus on growth among young adults, women, Hispanics and African-Americans, as well as our traditional customer base of Caucasian men 35 plus, lines up extremely well with these population trends. We believe the opportunity in our traditional base of strength will be strong for many years. And the opportunity in our key -- other key outreach segments is large and projected to grow. As we look forward to the remainder of the year and beyond, we feel great our brand, our business and our future. However, near term, we do remain cautious on the U.S. economy. On Slide 12, you will see first quarter retail sales in our international markets were down 1.8%. In our Europe region, Q1 retail sales were down 10.8%. We continue to experience significant softness in the Southern European countries. In addition, retail sales in the Northern countries were down in aggregate, driven primarily by the prolonged economic crisis across the region. Emerging markets within the EMEA region continue to grow, reflecting the success of our strategic investment in international growth. During the first quarter, our share of the 601cc market in Europe was 11.4%, which was largely flat the prior year despite aggressive discounting by our competitors. We remain concerned about the potential effect on sales of the ongoing recession in Europe, which continues to result in very low consumer confidence, high unemployment and constrained credit. We will continue to focus on the factors that we can control, which includes building our brand experience across the region and expanding our distribution network in emerging markets. In the Asia-Pacific region, retail sales were up 11.5%, driven by double-digit growth in Australia and emerging markets. In Japan, retail sales were up 4.7%, despite a challenging economic environment and increased competitive activity. The Latin America region was up 6.2%, driven by Brazil and Mexico. This growth is on top of last year's first quarter increase of 85%. During the quarter, the Harley-Davidson brand took the #1 share position in Brazil's heavyweight market. Finally, Canada's retail sales were down slightly during the quarter. Despite the challenges in Europe, we are confident in our international growth strategy and continue to invest, especially in emerging markets. During the quarter, 6 dealerships were opened in 6 different countries, including Turkey, South Africa and the Philippines. Since 2009, we have opened 99 dealerships, which is in line with our goal of opening 100 to 150 new international dealerships by the end of 2014. On Slide 13, you'll see wholesale shipments of Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the quarter were up 17.1% compared to last year as we took advantage of our surge manufacturing capability, which we initiated at York this quarter. The implementation of surge manufacturing in York allowed us to increase production of our Touring and Softail families ahead of the peak selling seasons. Last year, production of these models were constrained due to our restructuring. We also increased production in our Kansas City plant compared to last year's first quarter. Shipments in the first quarter of 2013 were within our expected range of 71,000 to 76,000 motorcycles. The mix of motorcycle shipments during the quarter shifted toward custom bikes. The mix of Touring bikes was strong but down slightly versus last year's first quarter, when we shipped a high percentage of Touring motorcycles. International shipments, as a percent of the total, were down compared to 2012, reflecting our efforts to navigate through the tough market conditions in Europe. On Slide 14, you'll see revenues of the Motorcycle and Related Products segment was up 11.1% in the first quarter, behind the increased year-over-year motorcycle shipments. Motorcycle revenue was up 15.9% behind a 17.1% increase in shipments during the first quarter. For the quarter, the average motorcycle revenue per unit decreased $158 from the prior period, primarily driven by unfavorable currency exchange, partially offset by higher pricing. On average, our key currencies during the first quarter were weaker against the U.S. dollar by approximately 4% compared to last year. Related business revenue was down for the quarter compared to last year, as both parts and accessories and general merchandise revenue generally track more closely with retail motorcycle sales than with motorcycle shipments. Parts and accessory sales were down 7.5% and general merchandise was down 3.3% in the first quarter compared to retail sales of motorcycles, which were down 9.1% compared to Q1 2012. Now turning to restructuring on Slide 15. Restructuring expenses were $2.9 million during the first quarter. We also experienced approximately $3 million in temporary inefficiencies versus approximately $7 million in last year's first quarter. Since 2009, we have been intensely focused on improving our cost structure and transforming the business to be stronger, more flexible and more profitable. As we near the completion of this restructuring, we will continue to focus on improving retail capabilities and strengthening our worldwide distribution channels and product development capabilities. We have established a culture of continuous improvement, and we'll continue to look for ways to operate in the most efficient and profitable manner. On Slide 16, you'll see gross margin in the quarter was 36.7%, which was up 0.8 percentage points versus last year. Volume, price, materials and manufacturing were all favorable for the quarter. As expected, foreign currency exchange was significantly unfavorable during the first quarter, related to the year-over-year hedge impact and continued volatility in key currencies. Mix was marginally unfavorable during the quarter, as we experienced unfavorable mix within families and geographies, partially offset by the favorable impact of higher shipments of custom motorcycles. Manufacturing costs were favorable to prior year, benefiting from restructuring savings, higher production in the quarter and lower temporary inefficiencies as compared to last year's first quarter. As we said last quarter, we continue to experience cost pressure from our suppliers of purchased components. On Slide 17, operating margin as a percent of revenue for the first quarter was 19.6%, up 3.3 percentage points compared to last year's first quarter. Operating margin for the quarter was favorably impacted by higher gross margin and lower year-over-year restructuring costs, partially offset by slightly higher SG&A. As a percent of revenue, SG&A in the first quarter was 17.0% versus 18.6% in the prior year quarter. We continue to expect SG&A spending will increase on a year-over-year basis in 2013 and 2014 as we continue to invest in growth initiatives, but decrease as a percent of revenue through 2014. Now moving on to our Financial Services segment on Slide 18. In the first quarter, HDFS's operating profit increased $4.1 million or 6.1% compared to last year. The 3 key drivers of the first quarter results were: first, net interest income was up $10.7 million, resulting from lower interest expense, which was primarily driven by a lower cost of funds; second, the combined change in the provision for retail and wholesale credit losses was unfavorable by $3.8 million on lower credit loss reserve releases and slightly higher retail credit losses; and finally, operating expenses were up $3.2 million. We're pleased with the performance of our financial services business in the first quarter. On a full year basis, we continue to believe HDFS's 2013 operating income will be modestly lower than 2012 as the business benefited from approximately $17 million of 2012 credit loss reserve releases, which may not repeat in 2013. In addition, we also expect modestly higher retail credit losses in 2013 due to lower recoveries resulting from fewer charge-offs in prior periods, changing consumer behavior and HDFS funding of additional loans we believe are prudently structured in the near-prime and sub-prime segments. Keep in mind, of the $17 million of credit loss reserve releases in 2012, $11.2 million were released during the second quarter of last year, so we'll be lapping that comparison in the second quarter of this year. Now Larry will provide more detail on HDFS's operations on Slide 19. Larry?