Friday, July 21, 2017 | Mary Green
DN listened in on the Polaris second-quarter 2017 financial analyst call, held July 20 with Chairman and CEO Scott Wine and CFO Michael Speetzen. Here are our takeaways on the ORV market, Indian and Slingshot, and improvements the company must make with its Dealer network:
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
“The global powersports industry outlook is improving for the first time in several years.” (Scott Wine)
“It’s the first time in, I don’t know – several years – that we have commented that we feel better about the industry.” (Mike Speetzen)
We are at a point where we’re trying to ship at the same cadence as retail.”
DEALERS: Inventory and RFM
Dealer inventory is down due to RFM [retail flow management] implemented on ATVs and motorcycles, and soon on side-by-sides: “We are at a point where we’re trying to ship at the same cadence as retail. It puts a lot of strain on the manufacturing environment until we go completely live with RFM, but we’ve essentially already put our inventory at the right level, give or take.” (Scott Wine)