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Daily Trouble
By
How Did it Find Trouble? Racing on thin treads is a dangerous pastime. As a kid, nothing could stop me and my Huffy Thunder Road. We'd coast past the roughest of terrains and hurdle over unlikely obstacles. While I would come home with the occasional scrape, the journey made the pain worthwhile. Today, as my Thunder Road rusts away, shareholders are taking the same path I relished in my youth. Huffy has had to pop wheelies and bunny-hop its way out of industry weakness. A reorganization plan announced in May of last year did little to remedy the rocky road that lay ahead. Last month Huffy finally did the unthinkable -- after 65 years, the great American bikemaker reported that it would be pulling out of America. Outsourcing to remain competitive in light of low-priced Chinese-made bikes, the company is set to close its two remaining domestic production facilities. Huffy was already conducting the bulk of its manufacturing overseas, and had even closed a third plant earlier this year. But, no more. 15% of the Huffy workforce will be let go in the process. The decision could not have been easy to make, but giving up a "Made in America" sticker seemed more feasible than pushing up a tombstone. Given industry fundamentals that have been held up like clamped spokes, Huffy's malaise may not be company specific. However, for investors, the downhill ride has certainly felt stock specific. Business Description Ohio-based Huffy makes bikes. Okay, bicycles accounted for just 43% of total revenues last year. The company also makes basketball backboards and gardening tools. Huffy also sells fulfillment services to retailers by providing product and display assembly, repairs, and inventory control. Financial Facts
Income Statement How Could You Have Seen it Coming? One can only ride for so long with both hands off the handlebars. Competition from China, where bikes serve as the transport of choice in many areas, certainly could not have been ignored. Huffy, like many domestic brand manufacturers, has always been able to demand premium pricing on its product line. Developing a brand creates that. A reputation for quality earns that. However, in light of plunging Asian currencies, it became harder to justify the peer price differential. Bike prices have fallen 30% this year, and Huffy has had no choice but to join the price slashing. That's great news to bicycle enthusiasts, but certainly not welcome news to Huffy stockholders. Avoiding the industry as a whole, just as the Asian flu began its first bout of wheezing, might have taken a bit of vision and swift maneuvering. Then again, as investors, isn't that what handlebars are for? Where to From Here? Training wheels. They are awkward but they help right off-balance wrongs. They are slow but deliberate. Huffy, once a blazing ten-speed mountain bike, has been fitted with training wheels. It's time to learn and adapt, and Huffy seems to be ahead of the curve on that front. Granted, the company has been in a state of flux for awhile now. Last year's restructuring didn't go far enough. A $23 million stock buyback, which would have retired more than a quarter of the shares outstanding, has been suspended. Like a greased-up Huffy, it's hard to get a handle on the company going forward. Even before the plant closure announcement, with the bulk of the $42.4 million charge to be taken this year, earnings estimates from the only two analysts following the company were wide apart -- at $0.60 per share on one end and $1.25 on the other. A leaner company is going to emerge from all this. If the company's $649 Buzz electric scooter takes off, it might be a blessing to have the new and possibly improved Huffy behind it. But, before the buzz on Buzz gets around, Huffy still has to prove that this last incarnation of a reorganization will be its last. Like I said of my scrapes during my young Thunder Road days -- the journey made the pain worthwhile. Will investors feel the same way?
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