Polaris Industries shares rise on strong 1Q income
Off-road and leisure vehicle maker Polaris Industries Inc. said Wednesday its earnings more than doubled in the first quarter and raised its guidance for the year, sending its shares up more than 16 percent in morning trading.
The company's earnings soundly beat Wall Street estimates. The report came a day after the company announced it had purchased the Indian Motorcycles Ltd. for undisclosed terms.
Polaris, based in Medina, Minn., near Minneapolis, makes snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and other leisure vehicles. It said strong demand for its products and market share gains in North America, as well as growing international sales, contributed to the earnings performance.
The company reported net income of $47.3 million, or $1.34 per share, in the quarter ending March 31, compared with $19.8 million, or 59 cents per share, in the same period of 2010. Revenue climbed to $537.2 million from $361.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
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The performance far exceeded Wall Street's estimates. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 71 cents per share on revenue of $415 million.
Shares of the company rose $15.05, or 16.5 percent, to $106.22 in morning trading Wednesday.
"Given our excellent start to the year, we are significantly raising our expectations for sales and earnings for the full year 2011," CEO Scott Wine said in a statement.
The company now expects full-year earnings to be in the range of $5.53 to $5.68 per share, an increase of 29 to 33 percent over the $4.28 it earned in 2010. Analysts expected earnings of $4.88 a share.
Full-year revenue is expected to grow from 17 to 20 percent, the company said in a statement. Polaris said Tuesday that it had acquired Indian Motorcycles from two British private equity firms.
The company said Indian would continue to run as an autonomous business unit and would complement Polaris' Victory cruiser and touring bikes.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
