Harley-Davidson Rockets 24% to 6-Month High After Revenue Smash and HDFS Unit Sale

TradingKey - On July 30, Harley-Davidson Inc. released its latest earnings report showing revenue exceeding market expectations. The company also announced a major divestiture of its financial services division, driving its pre-market trading price to surge over 24% to $28.55—a six-month high.

(Source: TradingKey)

The report revealed Q2 revenue of $1.31 billion, significantly surpassing analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.1 billion.

Harley-Davidson has reached agreements with investment firms KKR & Co. and Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) to sell a 4.9% equity stake in its financial services division and over $5 billion in retail loan receivables. Notably, the loan asset sale was completed at a premium to face value, generating substantial financial gains for the company.

Harley-Davidson stated the transaction is expected to yield approximately $1.25 billion in free cash flow, with $450 million allocated to debt repayment, $500 million returned to shareholders, and the remainder funding growth initiatives.

This partial divestiture of HDFS (Harley-Davidson Financial Services) and its large loan portfolio is widely interpreted as a strategic move to address sluggish growth in motorcycle sales and intensifying industry competition.

The company had initiated the HDFS sale process earlier this year. In 2024, HDFS contributed $1 billion in revenue and $248 million in profit, comprising one-fifth of Harley-Davidson’s total revenue.