This is beginning to sound like a broken record. For those of you too young to remember vinyl LP record albums, Wiki “broken record”. I reported the financial woes of Country Coach just yesterday. Today the economy is claiming an even larger RV victim. The New York Stock Exchange has dropped RV manufacturer Fleetwood Enterprises (NYSE:FLTW). Public trading of the once Fortune 500 company will be suspended at the opening bell on Monday. Once that happens, Fleetwood will be out of the exchange. Why? Its stock value tumbled 98 percent last year. The company’s stock value has now plunged below the minimum required by Wall Street regulators. From a high in 2004 of $16.06 per share, Fridays closing bids were as low as $0.0753 per share.
That doesn’t mean Fleetwood is out of business completely however. It’ll hang onto plants in the Midwest and California ““ although it’s already closed five of its modular housing facilities and laid off hundreds of workers. Fleetwood still has 6,000 employees nationwide. But each position is being scrutinized as the RV maker attempts to right itself after a long spin out.
Fleetwood recently spent millions of dollars of its reserves for a poorly timed expansion. Then came soaring fuel prices, a crippling credit freeze ““ and oh yeah, did someone mention global recession?
I did a little research and have come up with a list of RV manufacturers that have either closed completely or who have announced difficulties and may be in danger of closing. It reads like a who’s who of the RV manufacturing industry. This list is in alphabetical order, not order of demise, and may not be compete. I’ll keep working on it.
Alfa Leisure
Ameri-Camp
Bigfoot
Country Coach
Dolphin
Extreme RV
Fleetwood
King of the Road
National RV
NuWa
Pilgrim International
PLAY-MOR
Sunline Coach
Teton Homes
Trail Wagons
Travel Supreme
Weekend Warrior
Western RV Inc
West Coast Leisure Homes
This year is predicted to be just as tough or even tougher on the RV Industry than 2008. Many more RV manufacturers are struggling and further announcements of difficulty are expected. However, the long term outlook may not be as bleak as it looks at the moment.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. reported to government regulators last week that it had purchased a $40 million stake in Coachmen Industries Inc. Buffett, who overtook Bill Gates as the wealthiest person on Earth, has often demonstrated a strategy of buying businesses that are at rock bottom. Even though sales of RVs are expected to decline further in 2009, I see this as a good sign of an expected turnaround sometime soon. Buffett has had an uncanny knack in the past of accurately predicting the bottom of an industry slump and buying into it at just the right time. I’m hoping his crystal ball is bright, clean and still in good working order.
