Thor Industries stock jumps after big profit beat, amid strength in motorized RV sales

Shares of Thor Industries Inc. THO, +4.17% shot up 4.6% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the recreational vehicle maker reported a big profit beat for the fiscal fourth-quarter, as sales rose above forecasts and margins improved. Net income for the quarter to July 31 climbed to $280.9 million, or $5.15 a share, from $230.3 million, or $4.12 a share, in the year-ago period. That FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $3.81. Sales grew 6.4% to $3.82 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $3.69 billion. North America towable sales increased 3.8% to $1.80 billion and North America motorized RV sales rose 24.5% to $1.02 billion, while Europe RV sales dropped 16.8% to $809.7 million. Gross profit margin improved by 0.90 percentage points to 17.5%. For fiscal 2023, the company said there remains “a level of uncertainty” with respect to economic growth and consumer demand. Thor said it will provide full-year guidance in conjunction with first-quarter results. The stock, which closed Monday at the lowest price since April 2020, has tumbled 30.9% year to date through Tuesday while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.21% has shed 23.5%.