Harley Davidson Boosts Repurchase by an Additional 10 Million Shares – Buyback Wednesdays

Harley-Davidson (HOG) $33.48

Key Insights

• Harley-Davidson (HOG), which had for years experienced a decline in revenue started to see the top line rebound after the pandemic.
• Jochen Zeitz, the company’s new CEO was appointed right before the pandemic hit in February 2020 and has been turning the company around.
• During his 13 year tenure at Puma, the stock experienced a nearly 4,000% increase.

Last summer during a trip to the Southern Indian town of Chennai, I happened to be waiting outside a restaurant with some friends when someone pulled up on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I almost missed this until a friend pointed it out to me. For a company that partnered with Porsche to create its beautifully designed V-Rod series of motorcycles, I was surprised to see such an unremarkable motorcycle that didn’t stand out in the crowd despite costing nearly ten times most other motorcycles that were parked around it.

Motorcycles in India are less of a luxury discretionary purchase and more of a common preferred mode of transportation. I was not surprised to see that the new CEO of Harley-Davidson decided to exit that highly competitive market, much like GM’s Mary Barra did in 2017.

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