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Will one or more of these large 3 motor home makers cease operations during 2008?

Current forecast: 26% chance 12%
Combining all predictions, the current forecast is that this is 26% likely to happen (down 12% in last 1 day)

Winnebago Industries, Fleetwood Enterprises and Thor Industries are all in a major slump. They have slimmed down, laid off employees, closed plants and sold facilities. Near term prospects look dim. Will any of them cease operations and stop building motor homes before 1/1/09

Background: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2042887320080620?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0


Settlement details: As reported by a major mainstream news source.

 
Forecast history, %
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Yes
26%
No
74%
Activity: H$45,319
Question suspends in 3 weeks

Suspend date: Wed 31st Dec 11:59pm PST (3 weeks to go)

Initial likelihoods: Yes: 20%

Action history:

Created Fri 20th Jun 10:50am PDT by valornhonor[Power User]

Suspend date: Wed 31st Dec 11:59pm PST (3 weeks to go)
more info...

 

Predictions (43)

43 predictions

2 weeks ago
rogerkni predicted Yes (H$2,000 at 57%)
3 weeks ago
rogerkni predicted Yes (H$2,000 at 52%)
4 weeks ago
rogerkni predicted Yes (H$2,000 at 46%)
4 weeks ago
rogerkni predicted Yes (H$2,000 at 41%)
7 weeks ago
donquixote predicted Yes (H$100 at 38%)
more

Comments (6)

  1 rogerkni
Here's an AP story from last week (at http://www.cnbc.com/id/26183030/for/cnbc ):

RV makers fall, survey shows motorhome sales down
updated 12:36 p.m. PT, Wed., Aug. 13, 2008

NEW YORK - Shares of recreational vehicle makers declined Wednesday after an Avondale Partners survey of 70 RV dealers showed motorhome sales plunged in June.

The 51.1 percent drop, compared with retail sales in the same month last year, is not unexpected considering the 23-month downturn in the RV market and a 54.4 percent decrease in wholesale shipments in June, the report said.

Winnebago Industries Inc. maintained the top position in motorhomes with 18.5 percent of the market share with Fleetwood Enterprises following closely behind at 16.1 percent.

But analyst Kathryn Thompson trimmed her estimate for Winnebago to 30 cents per share from 50 cents per share for the 2009 fiscal year, citing slowness in the motorhome industry. ... She noted that Pilgrim RV, which was the 15th largest towable manufacturer in the industry, went out of business last week.
posted 15 weeks ago
  2 rogerkni
PS: If homeowners need to raise cash to pay mortgages, or no longer feel like driving their motorhomes much, many used motorhomes will come onto the market. This may be happening already. If so, the decline in sales by RV dealers may tell only part of the story. If the mix of used vs. new vehicles sold is rising, then mfgr's. sales would be down more than 50%.
posted 15 weeks ago
  3 rogerkni
Here's a snippet from a current sidebar story, "No Vacation for Fleetwood":

On Thursday, August 28 pre-market, Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. (FLE) reported a loss of $0.42 ($0.41 cont. op) per share or $29.1 million vs. a loss of $0.04 per share or $2.3 million. $0.01 was due to discontinued operations. Revenue fell to $289.9 million from $488.3 million, down 41% vs. a year ago. Analysts expected a loss of $0.18 per share on $346.8 million in revenue, missing expectations more than double.

President and CEO Elden Smith stated: "Unfortunately, the rapid and accelerating decline of sales in the motor home industry during the first quarter caused heavy operating losses that were exacerbated by an aggressive discounting environment and downtime at our plants."

On August 20, Moody’s cut FLE’s rating to “junk” status. ... A year ago, FLE’s market cap was around $750 million, now it sits at 163 million, a testament to the power of the rise in oil prices as well as a tightening of financing available. Both units suffered severe losses, especially the RV unit, which is in the midst of the worst year of a four-year downtrend. A flooding of deeply discounted RV’s from now (and soon) out-of-business dealers should put tremendous pressure on FLE now and in the near future.
posted 12 weeks ago
  4 rogerkni
PS: Please note that "ceasing operations" doesn't imply going out of business permanently, just shutting down all motor home plants until demand revives.
posted 12 weeks ago
I bailed out on this one because any of them could shut down their lines for the holidays or something. When I placed the wager, I assumed you meant that one of them would fold up its tent permanently, which I figured was pretty unlikely. No big deal.
posted 8 weeks ago
  6 bayoubear[Admin]
I'm looking at this question as asking if one of these will go out of business and shut down totally, permanently. I'm asking the creator for more info about his intent and then I'll see about editing the question to clarify....
posted 8 weeks ago

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