Camping World Holdings today reported results for the year and fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023.
Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of Camping World Holdings, said, “Beginning in December, our new vehicle same store unit growth turned positive, with January and February to date trending up from mid-single to low-double digits. We achieved our goal of significantly improving our new unit inventory position, with less than 7,500 new model year 2023’s remaining as of today. We believe we are outpacing the industry with close to 80% in 2024 models currently. We believe that successful negotiations in year-over-year pricing reductions on like-for-like new units has sparked early demand and new gross margin stabilization.”
Matt Wagner, chief operating officer of Camping World Holdings, said, “Any reduction of new model pricing causes us to reset used vehicle values and slow down the purchases of used RV inventory while market values correct themselves. We expect this short-term maneuver to allow used vehicle volumes to improve over time, with gross margin improvement beginning in the second quarter and continuing through the balance of the year.”
“Positive demand trends, inventory discipline, strength in our Good Sam segment and the service and parts portion of our business, acquisitions and cost reductions, give us confidence in delivering unit volume and strong earnings growth in 2024 while continuing our march to 320 locations by 2028,” Wagner said.
Full YOY operating highlights:
- Revenue was $6.2 billion, a decrease of $740.5 million, or 10.6%.
- Net income was $50.6 million, a decrease of $300.4 million, or 85.6%.
- Used vehicle revenue was a record $2 billion, an increase of $102 million, or 5.4%, and used vehicle unit sales were a record 56,823 units, an increase of 5,498 units, or 10.7%.
- New vehicle revenue was $2.6 billion, a decline of $651.8 million, or 20.2%, and new vehicle unit sales were 58,731 units, a decrease of 11,698 units, or 16.6%.
- Average selling price of new and used vehicles declined 4.3% and 4.8%, respectively.
- Same store used vehicle unit sales increased 5%, and same store new vehicle unit sales decreased 22.1%.
- Products, services and other revenue was $870 million, a decline of $129.2 million, or 12.9%, driven largely by lower demand and lower stocking levels of lifestyle and activities, and design and home products, as well as decreases in our direct to manufacturer RV furniture revenues due to RV manufacturer production slowdowns and discounting and discontinuation of certain product categories related to our Active Sports Restructuring.
- Gross profit was $1.9 billion, a decrease of $383.6 million, or 17.0%. Total gross margin was 30.2%, a decrease of 230 basis points. The decrease in gross profit and gross margin was driven largely by the decrease in average selling price of new and used vehicles and gross profit was further impacted by the decrease in combined RV unit sales and the related decrease in finance and insurance, net.
Fourth quarter-over-quarter operating highlights:
- Revenue was $1.1 billion for the fourth quarter, a decrease of $171 million, or 13.4%.
- Used vehicle revenue was $321.7 million for the fourth quarter, a decrease of $70.9 million, or 18.1%, and used vehicle unit sales were 9,492 units, a decrease of 842 units, or 8.1%.
- New vehicle revenue was $449.4 million for the fourth quarter, a decline of $32.3 million, or 6.7%, and new vehicle unit sales were 10,717 units, an increase of 328 units, or 3.2%.
- Average selling price of new and used vehicles declined 9.6% and 10.8%, respectively, during the fourth quarter. As the procurement prices of model year 2024 new vehicles declined compared to model years 2022 and 2023, the Company actively discounted certain used vehicles and certain pre-2024 model year new vehicles during the fourth quarter to reduce inventory levels of aged vehicles.