THOR Industries on Tuesday reported record net sales of $3.46 billion during the recent quarter – an increase of 106 percent as compared to the third quarter of the last year. Q3 results were $2.0 billion in North American RV net sales and $894.2 million in European RV net sales.
The company’s earnings per share for the quarter were $3.29 per diluted share – an increase of 665 percent year-over-year.
Consolidated RV backlog as of April 30, 2021, was $14.3 billion – an increase of nearly 550 percent over RV backlog as of April 30, 2020.
“We posted record results in our third fiscal quarter, achieving both the highest quarterly net sales and net income figures in the history of THOR Industries. These results show that growth continued unabated after the initial temporary shutdown of our dealers and THOR Industries’ production lines in late March through the end of April of last year due to the pandemic. We have increased our production levels, often with modest capital expenditures, and intend to continue to increase production levels to address the ongoing, robust consumer and dealer demand for THOR Industries RV products, while also managing through continuing supply chain challenges,” said Bob Martin, president and CEO.
“Demand for our products continues to grow at both the retail and wholesale levels. While our pace of production and shipments has accelerated, demand is so high that independent dealer inventories of THOR Industries products continue to decline while dealer sales are increasing. This increasing consumer demand has driven our order backlog to more than $14 billion at the end of the quarter and includes units that will be needed to restock depleted dealer inventories. Since a significant number of units in our backlog have already been retail sold, we currently believe the restocking cycle will extend well into calendar 2022,” Martin said.
THOR reported net income in the quarter was $183.3, compared with $24.1 million for the third quarter last year.
North American towable RV net sales were $1.73 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, compared to $773.4 million in the prior-year period. Of the increase in total towable RV net sales, $19.5 million was due to the acquisition of the Tiffin Group on Dec. 18, 2020. This is the first quarterly report to include Tiffin’s income as part of THOR’s report.
North American motorized RV net sales were $775.4 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, compared to $264 million in the prior-year period. Of that, $151.7 million of motorized sales was attributable to Tiffin.
“Our third-quarter results reflect the continued strong demand for our RVs and the fact that we increased production volumes in each of our business segments to address the increased demand from our dealers,” said Colleen Zuhl, THOR’s senior vice president and chief financial officer. “Our ability to ramp up production to address the increased demand from our dealers is reflected in our record results. For the third quarter of fiscal 2021, unit shipments increased by 113 percent for our North American Towable segment, 148 percent for our North American motorized segment and nearly 34 percent for our European RV segment. While we reported excellent results, the supply chain continues to be a constraint for the RV industry and THOR Industries alike, limiting our ability to further increase production to meet increased levels of dealer demand. THOR Industries is implementing various supply chain strategies to minimize these constraints while also working closely with our suppliers.”
In terms of the company outlook, Martin said, “We continue to see robust demand for our RVs and see no signs of demand slowing even as the economy recovers from the pandemic. The most recent RVIA forecast projects total North American wholesale RV shipments of approximately 576,100 units in calendar year 2021, representing an increase of 33.8 percent over 2020. We are focused on strategically increasing capacity and maximizing production efficiencies to fulfill the growing demand from our dealers. Ultimately, however, the number of THOR Industries units shipped in both fiscal and calendar 2021 depends on our ability to manage through the ongoing global supply chain issues. We have numerous team members throughout the organization focused on resolving near-term supply chain shortages while also pursuing long-term solutions to avoid potential future issues. …
“Looking ahead, we expect long-term health in the RV industry. We see the increased interest in the outdoors and RV lifestyle as a fundamental shift in consumer preferences, a shift that began before the pandemic and picked up steam over the last year. It is a trend we believe will continue to grow throughout our global marketspace. As one example of the underlying data supporting our optimism, we are seeing growth in two areas that have historically been frequent paths-to-purchase for the first-time RV buyer; outdoor camping and RV rentals. In its recently released 2021 annual camping report, Kampgrounds of America estimated that there were more than 10 million new households camping in calendar 2020 and estimated that an additional 4.3 million people will try camping in 2021 for the first time. KOA also projects that there will be 52.6 million camping households in 2021. In addition to new campers, the industry saw a sizeable increase in the number of RV rentals in 2020. The findings of THOR Industries 2020 RV Rental Study support the belief that those who rent an RV have a high propensity to eventually purchase an RV. These indicators, when combined with our robust order backlog and the historical 3 to 5-year trade-in cycle of current RV owners, reaffirm our belief that strong demand for THOR Industries products is sustainable over the coming months and years.”