Thor Industries had a challenging fiscal 2026, and the company said many of the headwinds it faced are expected to continue to plague its business in the year ahead.
"The retail market never reached the inflection point many in the industry expected, as stubborn interest rates, elevated fuel costs and ever-present inflationary pressures have strained household budgets and kept retail soft throughout the critical selling season," Chief Executive Bob Martin said Tuesday.
The RV maker posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $40.8 million, compared with $125.8 million a year earlier. Quarterly earnings were 78 cents a share, below the 88 cents a share that analysts polled by FactSet had expected.
For its three months ended July 31, net sales fell 8.4% to $2.31 billion, but came in ahead of the $2.17 billion that Wall Street had modeled.
Martin said ongoing affordability concerns and increasing material costs significantly pressured the company's gross margins. "Our earnings performance did not keep pace with our top-line performance," he added."
Looking ahead, Thor Industries will continue taking steps to restructure its business, implementing initiatives to protect consumer prices, manage production, grow its owned-supplier business and optimize its structure.
The company expects "a relatively flat retail environment in fiscal 2027 compared to fiscal 2026, with many of the same headwinds we experienced in fiscal 2026 facing us in the near term," Chief Operating Officer Todd Woelfer said.
Thor Industries didn't issue an outlook for the coming year, saying it needs more time and plans to issue forecasts for fiscal 2027 later this fall. Analysts are looking for earnings of $4.22 a share on sales of $9.76 billion in the year ahead.
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