Harley-Davidson Second Quarter Financial Results
Harley-Davidson reported its second quarter 2026 results just as this edition of AMD was going to press. The rest of the edition was already locked down so this month I am using my ' Op-Ed ' space to publish a quick guide and commentary on the basics of their Q2 performance. We will catch up with any insights arising, especially in terms of discussion about the upcoming My2027 news, in our usual more detailed ' drill-down ' coverage in the print and digital editions of the September edition, but expect to see the ' Sprint ' single before the end of 2026 and the reborn 883 Sportster in H2, 2027. The most interesting thing to come out of Artie Starr ' s CEO commentary that always accompanies the formal results release concern a rise in Harley ' s 2026 full-year guidance and an ongoing laser-like focus on what makes dealer businesses healthy- " our second-quarter performance reflects strength in our domestic retail business, continued focus on healthy dealer inventory levels and the exceptional commitment of our dealer network. " We also made meaningful progress against our ' Back to the Bricks ' strategic initiatives, strengthening execution across the business and driving improved profitability. " Given this progress, our first-half results, and our market
Q2 global unit shipments + 9 % share gains, we are raising our full-year guidance and remain confident in our ability to create long-term value for shareholders." In and of itself the reference to " driving improved profitability " is also important and may well be a response to the fears raised by ratings agency S & P when marking down the value of Harley ' s shares to little better than speculative ' Junk ' status( down to BB + from BBB-). Those fears center on Harley ' s likely profitability in the context of their ' Back to the Bricks ' strategic plan. It raises the age-old conundrum of whether selling a higher number of motorcycles at lower price points is good for profitability. Wall Street looks at businesses through the kind of short-term, returns-led lens through which the quarterly bonus dominated investor eco system is defined- because the long-term health of a brand cannot be amortized it is generally discarded as a fiscal drag rather than asset. Back to the fiscals, second quarter 2026 Highlights include North American retail motorcycle sales of 29,751 units, up 3 % vs. prior year; global dealer inventory of new motorcycles ending Q2 ' 26 down 17 % vs. end Q2 ' 25 and HDMC global motorcycle shipments of 39,209, up 9 % vs. prior year. HDMC revenues were up by 6 % vs. the prior year at $ 1.1bn; HDMC Adjusted EBITDA margin was 10.4 %, up from 9.3 % in Q2 ' 25. At 18.5 % HDFS operating income margin was down from 27.1 % in Q2 ' 25 and delivered diluted EPS of $ 0.75 was down by 15 % vs. prior year- also likely to be a factor in Wall Street concerns moving forward( Shylock doesn ' t like it when his pound of flesh suffers from ' shrinkflation '!). An operational highlight in Q2 was the Introduction of the well-received and convincing 2026 ' Super Glide ' iteration in June. That was followed in July( Q3) by the new and equally well received USA only ' Deadwood '- a stripped-back, post- WWII style Softail chassis built retro cruiser. The ' Super Glide ' is priced at $ 15,999( only $ 1k higher than Harley ' s current lowest priced Softail) and with the ' Deadwood ' starting at an MSRP of £ 17,999 neither are quite the ~$ 10k " customizer ' s delight " price-point M8 that has been attracting speculation, but in pricing terms they are in a better neighborhood for brand footprint expansion than the over-priced specials, ' special-specials ', ' uber-specials ' and ' mega specials ' of the Zeitz era. Memo to S & P- allow me to be among the first to welcome the notion of ' stripped down ' into the brand development conversation, with all the highly profitable accessorization and customization baggage and opportunities that it brings with it. Back to the issue of ' guidance ' mark the moment- for the full year 2026, the Company is revising its financial guidance and now expects HDMC global motorcycle retail sales( and wholesale shipments) of 133,500 to 138,500 units from a previously expected range of 130,000 to 135,000 units. Oh, to see the harmony of balanced inventory on the horizon! In retail motorcycle sales terms, global retail motorcycle sales in the second quarter were up 1 % versus prior year, reflecting North American growth and soft international results. North American retail was up 3 %, driven by continued strength in the Touring and Sport categories and a positive response to the new ' 26 motorcycle line-up. EMEA retail performance, down 9 %, was characterized by positive results in the Touring and Sport categories, while the German region( DE / Aut / CH) experienced a decline. APAC retail performance was slightly positive in the quarter, where Australia and New Zealand led the region from a growth standpoint. Latin America retail saw strong gains in Mexico and a In the second quarter, HDFS revenue was down 55 % from prior year, driven by lower retail finance receivables. The decline in retail receivables was due to the sale of loan assets that took place in the second half of 2025. Other income within HDFS revenue was favorable year-over-year due to new servicing fees. The reported financial performance of HDFS now looks very different to that seen in the pre KKR / PIMCO era, and performance at LiveWire( remember that?) was modestly less bad than the year-ago. Overall, and in the context of what had gone before( a decade of ever worsening numbers?) these are better results than anything we have seen of later. The word " good " might be pushing it where these numbers are concerned, but Harley has a long way still to go still before entering those sunlit uplands- and I think Artie Starrs would be the first to admit that. He has been very polite and professional about what he had inherited, but by any measure it was a " cluster ". However, these numbers definitely are in the landscape known as " better ", and while a doubling of dealer profitability has as much to do with a low bar as being ' life changing ', there is though no question that they do mark a turnaround point. In just nine months or so Artie Starrs has managed to stabilize the business and to build a foundation for the future.
Robin Bradley
Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world. com