Hard Times for Fleetwood

[wavery]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=az21pTvI_VrQ&refer=us

[flyfisherman]

Something related ... I saw a news blurb night before last how the community  of Elkhart, Indiana, being the hub of the RV and related industry, was in dire straights because of the high unemplyoment.

[Jim K in PA]

Wow.  They are over a half BILLION dollars in debt, and have lost money every year since 2001 according to the article.  It sure sounds like their problems started long before the economy went sour, and had little to do with gas prices last year.  Are they the GM of the RV industry?

[flyfisherman]

Wow.  They are over a half BILLION dollars in debt, and have lost money every year since 2001 according to the article.  It sure sounds like their problems started long before the economy went sour, and had little to do with gas prices last year.  Are they the GM of the RV industry?

It's almost next to impossible to decipher these big corporation bookkeeping practices, to be able to tell the facts from the fabrication. Just as an example, say GM says they "lost"  $35,000,000.00 ... come to find out they had projected they would make $50,000,000.00 and and in truth only made $15,000,000.00 - now that's 15 big ones in the black but they count the projected shortfall as a loss. I call it hoodwink bookeeking.

I had a serious falling out with Fleetwood over the saging ABS roof on my '96 Coleman/Fleetwood. I was one of the early ones to show-up with that manufacturing defect and they really gave me a hard way to go instead of standing behind their warranty. In short, I sold the sagger (told the new buyer the facts but he wanted it anyway!) and bought a different brand ... but I noted Fleetwood's top brass got a generous bonus that year according to their corporate annual report.

[wavery]

It's almost next to impossible to decipher these big corporation bookkeeping practices, to be able to tell the facts from the fabrication. Just as an example, say GM says they "lost"  $35,000,000.00 ... come to find out they had projected they would make $50,000,000.00 and and in truth only made $15,000,000.00 - now that's 15 big ones in the black but they count the projected shortfall as a loss. I call it hoodwink bookeeking.

I had a serious falling out with Fleetwood over the saging ABS roof on my '96 Coleman/Fleetwood. I was one of the early ones to show-up with that manufacturing defect and they really gave me a hard way to go instead of standing behind their warranty. In short, I sold the sagger (told the new buyer the facts but he wanted it anyway!) and bought a different brand ... but I noted Fleetwood's top brass got a generous bonus that year according to their corporate annual report.

Not exactly Fly......That is not a "Bookkeeping" hoodwink....... It's the stock forecast miss-calculation. If it was done purposely to inflate stock values and corporate execs sell on that forecast........they go to jail.

If the financial statement shows a $35M loss, it's a $35M loss. If they forecast a $50M profit and only come up with a $15M profit.....it's a $15M profit on the financial statement (Bookkeeping) but it's a $35M "Shortfall" (not loss) on the stock market and the stock reacts accordingly.