http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...-the-hill.aspx

in early March, Harley-Davidson announced that global sales for its motorcycles had fallen 13% in the first two months of this year. U.S. retail sales -- which accounted for almost 73% of the company's sales -- were down 9.4% in the same period; international sales dropped by 21.5%. The 105-year-old company's stock, which was trading at $42.80 as recently as six months ago, is now barely in the double digits.

 

Do a Google search for Harley-Davidson 2008 Annual Report. You'll get some interesting information in it. They are again cutting production in 2009.

 

Good time to pick up some stock, not just Harley stock either. Lot's of other really good deals out there.

The sky is not falling! Buy! Buy! Buy! Buy!

 

What comes down ......will go back up...especially considering HD

 

"Barely" in the double digits? Closed today at $15.72. For comparison, Microsoft closed at $19.29. H-D is struggling, just like every other big manufacturing company, but they're hardly in dire straits. The MoCo is basically sound; cutting production is a normal response to a market slowdown. Otherwise you get saddled with a lot of excess inventory. They've weathered much worse storms than this, and they're in better shape than the Big Three. There's no loss of confidence in the company itself, either by investors (see: Warren Buffett) or by consumers (it'd take a lot to shake Harley loyalists into buying, say, a Victory).

Every market-watcher out there seems to be of the opinion that things are now about as bad as they're going to get. The market has swung around, job losses have slowed, and the other major industries are starting to pick back up, or at least they've stopped falling. The question now is how to break the credit market loose, which is a matter of confidence, and how long will things stay here before we see real improvements.