Greg Gerber posted on December 31, 2009 14:04
SUN CITY, Ariz. -- Stocks in publicly traded companies serving the RV industry will close the year dramatically better than they were when the year started, RV Daily Report has discovered.
In reviewing financial data on the last trading day of the year, it is clear that the financial situation has dramatically turned around for some of the biggest companies in the RV industry. The data below was derived by looking at daily closing prices for each stock supplied through Yahoo Finance.
Winnebago Industries closed the year at $12.40 per share. It started the year at $6.32 and traded as low as $3.23 March 6. It's highpoint was $15 per share on Oct. 12.
Thor Industries closed the year at $31.60 per share. It started the year at $13.54, bottomed out at $9.71 March 2 and reached a high of $32.23 Oct. 13.
As the parent company of Monaco and Workhorse, Navistar's stock prices have truly resembled a roller coaster this year. It closed at $38.70 today and reached a high of $47.27 Aug. 26. It's lowest point of the year came March 6, when shares were trading at $22.92. It started the year selling for $24.43.
Spartan Motors started trading at $4.86 Jan. 2, plummeted to $2.27 on Feb. 26 and reached a high of $11.44 on June 26. It closes the year just slightly better than it started at $5.78.
Daimler, which owns Freightliner Custom Chassis, saw its stock rise from $39.11 at the start of the year to high of $55.95 on Oct. 19, stopping off at $21.58 on March 2. It closed the year at $53.59.
Among RV industry suppliers, TriMas showed a slow, steady climb all year long. Starting the year at $1.37, it dipped as low as 97 cents per share March 2 and reached a high of $7.15 yesterday. TriMas stock closed the year at $6.79 per share.
Patrick Industries started the year trading at just 62 cents per share before falling as low as 25 cents March 19. By Sept. 11, the stock was trading at $4.23 and fell back to its year-end closing price of $2.43 per share.
Flexsteel started the year trading at $7.02 per share. Stock prices dipped to a low of $5.03 on April 7, reached a high of $9.98 yesterday before closing the year at $9.68 per share.
Decorator Industries was likely the most stable of RV-related stocks. After starting the year at 79 cents per share, it spiked as high as 86 cents per share Oct. 6 before settling into it's year-end closing price of 88 cents.
Drew Industries started the year at $12.30 per share, bottomed out at $5.50 on March 9, jumped to $23.56 Oct. 12 and closed the year trading at $21.10 per share.
Coast Distribution was trading at $1.09 on Jan. 2, slipped to 82 cents per share March 2, rose to $3.98 Nov. 17 and settled into a trading price of $3.91 today.
So, what's it all mean?
If a hypothetical investor who believed in the RV industry invested $1,000 in each of the above companies Jan. 2, he would have invested a total of $11,000. Today, those stocks would be worth $25,110.51.