Harley Davidson Analysis Report: Solvency and Profitability

Harley-Davidson’s Annual Report (2009) indicates sales from motorcycles and related products on a continuing basis decreased 23.1 percent to $4.29 billion compared to 2008 and income from continuing operations decreased 89.7 percent from the prior year to $70.6 million (Harley-Davidson, 2010a). These losses can be attributed to HDFS and the impact of restructuring (Harley-Davidson, 2010a). However, by eliminating excess capacity, reducing administrative costs and non-core business operations, Harley-Davidson believes these steps of restructuring will reflect between $240 million and $260 million in annual ongoing savings (HD1, 2010). Nonetheless, excusing the decline in numbers, Harley-Davidson’s Annual Report (2009) states, since 1993, the company has paid a dividend every year (Harley-Davidson, 2010a).

The gross profit margin for CC is right around the industry average. Although the numbers seems to be decent, the costs of goods sold are too high. Next, looking at the operating profit margin, the numbers don’t look as great as they should. The numbers are low compared to the industry average in years 2001, 2004, and 2005. This may indicate that CC should look into their prices and costs. In 2001 the net profit margin was very low compared to the industry average. I am assuming this is due to the major expansion. It is also important to look more deeply into the numbers though because the net profit margin is lower compared to the industry average in all of the years. Once again CC should look into their costs and how efficient they are converting sales into actual profit.

Currently H-D is the leading seller of heavy weight motorcycles across the entire world. Because they are at the pinnacle they are the target for the competition. Some of Harley Davidson 's advantages are name recognition, brand loyalty, brand quality and customer loyalty (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2013, p. 81). The company benefits by having “the made in America” image attached to its products. The image of a Harley rider and owner is one of a tough, independent, free spirit, ready and willing to take on the world type of man. The sound of a H-D motorcycle in idle or being ridden is unique and very identifiable.

In conclusion, we can state that Ford’s ratios shows a lot about the situation of the company. It’s clear, that also its book value equity and the net income were negative in the last years, it can realize a less than 3000 million $ net income only in 2009. In addition, its sales fall short of the previous ones, the operating revenue decreases continually. Besides, the total debt of the company is also very high, over the past 4 years it remained over 100 billion $ all the time, but it lessens yearly, as the interests too. The amount of Ford’s total

In terms of industry profitability, it appears that profit margins have a tendency to fall. This is because competition is high and customers tend to buy low-priced high-value items. The average gross margin and net profit margin is 37.1% and 14.3%, respectively (MSN Money, 2010).

Return on Total Assets was 4.43% which is below five percent. That indicates that the company is not accurately converting its assets into profit. The total for Return on Stockholders’ Equity was 8.89%, however financial analysts prefer ROE to range between 15-20 %. The company’s low ROE indicates that the company is not generating profit with new investments. Lastly, Debt-to-Equity ratio for the company was 1.01 which indicates that investors and creditors are equally sharing assets. In the view of creditors, they see a high ratio as a risk factor because it can indicate that investors are not investing due to the company’s overall performance. The totals of these three ratios demonstrate that the company’s financial state is not as healthy as it should be.

Harley-Davidson is well known for its unique motorcycles. Its subsidiary, Harley-Davidson Motor Company (HDMC), manufactures five families of motorcycles, namely, Touring, Dyna, Softail, Sportster and V-Rod. These models are distinguished by their frame, engine, suspension, and other characteristics. The company shipped 233,117 motorcycles in the fiscal year ended December 2011, comprising 39.5% Touring motorcycle units, 39.2% Custom motorcycle units, and 21.3% Sportster motorcycle units.

The Gross profit margin stays relatively constant at around 36 %. However, there is a slight rise from 2000 to 2004.

Operating profit margin figures in the table above show the return from net sales[13]. However profit margin ratios are high enough for the 3 years, there is a fall from 12.86% to 11.26% during 2011-12. Sales revenue increases with a higher rate than gross profit so there is a poor

As for South America, Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG +0.31% opened a permanent Latin America headquarters, joining a growing list of U.S. companies looking to tap into the emerging market. (By Melodie Warner in Market Watch) South America has a growing economy and a huge acceptance for an icon in the motorcycle industry like Harley Davidson. In the same way Japan embraced Harley “Their economy is a fast growing luxury market” p.c11.

Good relationships, continuous improvement, employee and management involvement, team building or employee training and empowerment are not just words out of a management book for Harley-Davidson. Only by adopting those management techniques and building a solid base between the management and the Unions/employees made it possible for Harley-Davidson to improve its management processes. While management 's responsibility is to build

Since the founding of Harley-Davidson in 1903 by Arthur and Walter Davidson and William Harley, the company has a rich heritage and a loyal following. The company has proven to be resilient and innovative throughout the years. They have made their fair share of mistakes, especially while under the ownership of AMF, whose decisions almost destroyed Harley-Davidson. They have also made an inspiring come back, recapturing their share of the market and more. Harley-Davidson has managed to attract all sorts of riders including motorcycle “rebels”, women and blue and white color workers. In fact, in our church small group there are two

The first major ingredient of Harley-Davidson’s transformation process was the influx of new capital from AMF. Specifically, this allowed the company to dramatically expand motorcycle production from 15,475 units to 70,000 units in only four years; however, this change also resulted in a significant decrease in overall product quality.

Regardless of their emergence in the market in the year, in 1903, Harley-Davidson together with the motorcycle industry did not have an easy start until the end of the Second World War. Many people used motorcycles during the period the war took place. Harley-Davidson was instrumental in supplying around 90,000 motorcycles to the American military during this period. Many veterans opted to buy motorcycles after returning home. This is because they enjoyed riding the motorcycles during the war and desired to continue riding them after the end of the war. This generation was called the "baby boomers" and became the primary target for Harley-Davidson to market their products.

The long-term liquidity risk ratio such as LT debt/Equity, D/E, and Total Liabilities to Total Assets all show a decline from year 2005 due to the repayment of debts. The interest coverage ratio also shows a healthy number of 29.45 in comparison to the industrial average of 15.04 indicating a high ability to pay out its interest expense. Such a low relative risk is not surprising due to the nature of its business depending heavily in R&D development and large intangible assets.