Is It Time To Ditch Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG)?

Currently, Polaris demonstrates efficiency and quality debt management, sporting a respectable profit margin of 9.87% and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The latter is well below the industry average of 1.3. Furthermore, Polaris currently yields 1.70%, compared to Harley-Davidson’s 1.50%.

Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) suffered the most of these three companies during the financial crisis, with revenue and earnings seeing remarkable declines from 2008 to 2009. However, an insider bought a “moderate” amount of stock this April between $17.50 and $17.99. The stock is now trading at $24.57. This insider still hasn’t sold any shares since that time. While a $70,980 investment might not sound like a big deal to some people, it might be a significant amount of money for this insider. It’s not likely that a Winnebago insider would risk that kind of money unless he was confident about the company’s future prospects. That said, Winnebago is highly sensitive to stock market corrections, making it high risk.

Conclusion

Investing in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) might sound like fun, and it’s likely to eventually lead to positive returns, but there would be little sense investing in Harley-Davidson when a more consistent and diversified investment option is available in the same space — that being Polaris. However, neither of these stocks is resilient to broad market corrections, so proceed with caution.

The article Is It Time To Ditch Harley? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Moskowitz.

Dan Moskowitz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII). The Motley Fool owns shares of Winnebago Industries (NYSE:WGO). Dan is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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