Shares of Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG, +11.49% rallied 1.4% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the motorcycle maker reported third-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations by wide margins, citing a “strong recovery” in global motorcycle shipments. Net income rose to $261 million, or $1.78 a share, from $163 million, or $1.05 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.40. Revenue grew 20.8% to $1.65 billion, well above the FactSet consensus of $1.36 billion. Motorcycle shipments increased 19% to 57,100, and motorcycle revenue rose 28.0% to $1.13 billion, topping the FactSet consensus of $966.7 million. Gross margin improved by 7.4 percentage points, as pricing and mix contributed about 5 percentage points of improvement. “In addition, greater manufacturing leverage and lower tariffs contributed positively and more than offset existing foreign exchange headwinds,” the company said. For 2022, the company affirmed its motorcycle revenue growth guidance range of 5% to 10%. The stock has run up 12.1% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.35% has eased 1.6%.
