Arctic Cat Narrows Fiscal 4Q Loss On Higher Sales

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Arctic Cat Inc. said Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed on a steep jump in demand for all-terrain vehicles.

The Minneapolis-based company's results beat Wall Street predictions, but it also issued lower-than-expected profit and sales predictions for the current fiscal year. Its shares tumbled more than 14 percent in morning trading.

For the quarter ended March 31, Arctic Cat posted a net loss of $6.2 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $9.6 million, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier.

The latest results are based on about 13.7 million outstanding shares, while those of the year-ago period are based on about 18.3 million shares.

Net sales jumped 34 percent to $98.5 million from $73.5 million, as ATV sales soared 58 percent to $75.8 million on strong dealer demand for a new off-road vehicle model.

Analysts, on average, expected a loss of 55 cents per share on $92.7 million in revenue, according to a FactSet poll.

The increase in ATV sales was partially offset by losses related to snowmobile sales, which grew to a negative $6.8 million from a negative $4.5 million in the year-ago quarter, mainly as a result of an increase in sales incentives.

Sales of parts, garments and accessories fell slightly to $29.5 million from $29.9 million.

Due to the seasonality of its businesses, Arctic Cat said it typically reports weaker results for its first and fourth fiscal quarters than it does for its second and third fiscal quarters.

For the full fiscal year 2012, Arctic Cat said its net income more than doubled to $29.9 million, or $1.72 per share, from $13 million, or 70 cents per share, in fiscal 2011. Revenue jumped to $585.3 million from $464.7 million.

For the current fiscal year, Arctic Cat said it expects industry wide North American sales of ATVs to be flat to down 5 percent and industry wide North American snowmobile sales to be flat to up 2 percent.

Based on those assumptions, Arctic Cat said it expects to post a fiscal 2013 profit of $2.40 to $2.50 per share on $631 million to $650 million in sales.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect a profit of $2.70 per share on $659.8 million in sales.

Arctic Cat shares dropped $6.03, or 14.3 percent, to $36.28 in morning trading. Its shares have fallen 24 percent since hitting a 52-week high of $47.46 in mid-April. Their low for the past year was $11.55 per share last June.

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