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Harley roars down Street
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July 12, 1999: 8:26 p.m. ET
No. 1 U.S. heavyweight motorcycle maker beats Street by a penny
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Continued strong sales helped Harley-Davidson Inc. roar by Wall Street's expectations Monday and may drive the nation's No. 1 heavyweight motorcycle seller toward another record year.
Harley-Davidson (HDI) reported second-quarter net income of $68.6 million, up from $55.4 million in the second quarter of 1998. The Milwaukee, Wis.-based company raised its production target for 1999.
Earnings per share were 44 cents, up from 36 cents in the year ago period, and pulling out in front of First Call Corp.'s estimate of 43 cents per share by one penny.
Second-quarter sales reached $608.7 million, a 17.7 percent increase over the year ago period.
"This is shaping up to be another record year," Jeffrey L. Bleustein, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
"Based on the market's growth and our manufacturing capabilities," Bleustein said. "We have increased our production target for Harley-Davidson motorcycles for 1999 from 168,000 to 172,000 units."
However, Bleustein said that even with the planned increase, it is unlikely that Harley will be able to sustain a 30-plus percent rate of retail registration growth during the second half of the year.
Second-quarter sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles were $468.6 million, up 16.9 percent from the second quarter last year.
Harley's Buell Motorcycle unit saw sales of $12.5 million, down from $13.4 million last year after production was stopped for five weeks in the second quarter while parts in a voluntary recall could be supplied to the market.
The company's Eaglemark Financial Services subsidiary saw operating income rise 43.5 percent to $9.1 million. Harley said it wants to sustain Eaglemark's first half operating income growth rate of about 30 percent through the end of 1999.
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Harley-Davidson
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