Start 30 days free, no card. Full Pro access for a month, then decide. Start free
Loading
Quarter in detail
· FY2025 Q3
Macro Signals
↓Consumer Spending↓Trade & Tariffs→Credit
Harley-Davidson's third quarter headline was made by the HDFS transaction rather than by the motorcycle business. Consolidated revenue rose 17% and GAAP EPS came in at $3.10, with consolidated operating income of $475 million and an operating income margin of 35.4% against 9.2% a year earlier, largely because classifying $4.1 billion of receivables as held for sale drove a $301 million benefit in the provision for credit losses. Strip that out and the Motor Company was weak: HDMC operating income fell 2% even as HDMC revenue rose 23% on shipments up 33% to 36,500 units, with gross margin down to 26.4% from 30.1% and $27 million of tariff cost in the quarter. Global retail fell 6%, an improvement on the first half, and US large cruiser share expanded from 61% to 68% as the Softail family grew 9% in North America. New CEO Artie Starrs called dealer inventory too high in touring and CVO and deferred a full go-forward plan to spring, while the company-level 2025 outlook stays withheld.
Key Themes7
mixed📊 company
Consolidated Result Driven By HDFS Transaction
Consolidated operating income in the third quarter was $475 million and operating income margin came in at 35.4% versus 9.2% a year ago, primarily due to the impacts associated with the HDFS transaction, including a $301 million benefit in the provision for credit losses.
MarginM&A
negative📊 company
Motor Company Operating Income Down 2% On 23% Revenue Growth
At HDMC, operating income was down 2% relative to prior year even though HDMC revenue increased by 23%, with HDMC gross margin at 26.4% compared to 30.1% in the prior year.
MarginRevenue Growth
positive📊 company
Wholesale Shipments Up 33% Against An Easy Comp
Motorcycle shipments in the quarter were up 33%, coming in at 36,500 units, contributing 20 points of the 23% increase in HDMC revenue.
Revenue GrowthInventory
mixed🏢 sector
Retail Down 6% But Improving Sequentially
Global retail was down 6%, with the North American market being down 5% and international markets down 9%, while Latin America was up 16% and Japan turned in positive growth for the first time since Q4 of 2023.
DemandMacroeconomic
negative📊 company
New CEO Flags Dealer Inventory And Profitability Gaps
Artie Starrs said inventory levels at dealers are too high, particularly in touring and CVO, where inventory was pretty flat while every other family was down by 20% to up to 45%, and suspended fuel facility noncompliance penalties for 12 months.
InventoryCompetitive Dynamics
negative🌍 macro
Tariff Cost Reached $45 Million Year-To-Date
The cost of new or increased tariffs was $27 million in Q3 of 2025 and $45 million year-to-date, a headwind of 140 basis points to year-to-date gross margin, with the full year estimate at $55 million to $75 million.
Trade TariffsCost Pressure
positive📊 company
US Large Cruiser Share Expanded To 68%
In the U.S., market share for HD in the large cruiser category expanded from 61% in Q3 of 2024 to 68% in Q3 of 2025, with the Softail family up 9% in North America.
All analyzed callsNot limited to the selected quarter · analysts and firms with 2 or more questions
What does “challenging” mean?
Percentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions.
Most active analysts
Analyst
Firm
Questions · challengingPercentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions.
Questions · challengingPercentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions.
What HOG and other companies said about each other on FY2025 Q3 earnings calls — extracted verbatim from public transcripts. Mentions from the newest quarter are a Pro feature.
“evidenced by today's announcement where Harley-Davidson announced its plans to enter into an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs to repurchase $200 million of shares of the company's common stock.”
Goldman Sachs is the counterparty on a $200 million accelerated share repurchase for Harley-Davidson, expected to complete no later than the first quarter of 2026.
PIMCOnot trackedFY2025 Q3Partner
“In Q4, the $4.1 billion of finance receivables previously classified as held for sale were sold on October 30 to strategic partners, KKR and PIMCO.”
PIMCO took delivery of part of a $4.1 billion Harley-Davidson retail loan portfolio on October 30, a sizable consumer credit purchase completed alongside KKR.
“HDFS has sold a 9.8% common equity interest in the fourth quarter to investment vehicles managed by KKR and PIMCO, 4.9% to each based on a 1.75x post-transaction book value.”
KKR closed a 4.9% equity stake in HDFS at 1.75x post-transaction book value, with an exchange right into Harley-Davidson stock after seven years.
Corporate events
Filed after the FY2025 Q3 call day (Nov 4, 2025) through the next call day (Feb 10, 2026)From SEC 8-K filings
No 8-K events recorded for this window.
Key financials
FY2025 Q3 selectedReported GAAP figures from SEC filings
The table scrolls sideways. Swipe it, or select it and use the arrow keys.
Quarter
Revenue
Rev YoY
EPS
EPS YoY
Gross margin
Op margin
Net margin
FCF
FY2024 Q4
$688M
-34.7%
$-0.93
-616.7%
22.3%
-28.1%
-17.0%
$77M
FY2025 Q1
$1.33B
-23.1%
$1.07
-37.8%
35.3%
12.1%
10.0%
$112M
FY2025 Q2
$1.31B
-19.3%
$0.88
-46.0%
28.2%
8.6%
8.2%
$332M
FY2025 Q3Selected
$1.34B
+16.5%
$3.10
+240.7%
35.2%
35.7%
28.1%
$-129M
FY2025 Q4
$496M
-27.8%
$-2.44
-162.4%
-22.8%
-72.8%
-56.3%
$100M
FY2026 Q1
$1.17B
-11.8%
$0.22
-79.4%
29.5%
3.9%
2.1%
$-260M
FY2026 Q2
$1.23B
-5.9%
$0.75
-14.8%
24.7%
6.2%
6.5%
$155M
As stated by management
Management’s own words, often on a non-GAAP, constant-currency, or adjusted basis — so these can differ from the GAAP figures above (e.g. constant-currency revenue growth excludes currency swings).
EPS
“Third quarter earnings per share was $3.10”
Revenue
“Consolidated revenue in the third quarter was up 17%”
Guidance
“we continue to withhold our full year 2025 financial outlook for HDMC and HDI”
Key metric
“Consolidated operating income in the third quarter was $475 million”
Analyst challenge ratePercentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions. · all analyzed quarters
12%company-level, not the selected quarter
GAAP revenue YoY +16.5% → base 8. The base score is anchored to the GAAP revenue YoY band before transcript, EPS, and guidance adjustments.
▸How this score was built
Base8Base 8GAAP revenue YoY +16.5% → base 8. The base score is anchored to the GAAP revenue YoY band before transcript, EPS, and guidance adjustments.+Transcript0Transcript 0GAAP revenue growth is management-confirmed ('Consolidated revenue in the third quarter was up 17%') and is real motorcycle volume: 20 of the 23 points of HDMC revenue growth came from wholesale shipments up 33% to 36,500 units against a destocked prior-year comp. Revenue does carry a $27 million gain on sale of HDFS securitization residual interests inside other income, but management stated no adjusted revenue growth rate and the implied ex-gain figure differs by under 3 percentage points, below the Tier 1 threshold. Consumer Cyclical motorcycle manufacturing is not on the Sector Rules Table closed list, so no Tier 2 is available. -> 0.
Share price · trailing year
daily closes, last 12 months — not scoped to the selected quarter · dots mark earnings calls, colored by that quarter’s score
Sources.Tellvest earnings-call sentiment score for Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG), FY2025 Q3: 6/10. Scores: Harley-Davidson, Inc.’s public earnings-call transcripts and SEC-reported results — the base band is anchored to reported GAAP revenue growth; transcript, EPS and guidance adjustments are applied separately (documented exceptions apply to a few issuers). Price: HOG daily closing prices for the trailing year; dots mark earnings calls, colored by that quarter’s score; the newest quarter’s score is part of Tellvest Pro. How to read a company earnings-call score.
+
EPS+1EPS +1Re-scored 2026-07-29 under the closed qualifying-GAIN list. The raw GAAP figures are unusable here: GAAP EPS YoY +240.66% and operating income YoY +352.45% give spreads of +224.15 percentage points and +335.94 percentage points, both inflated by the same HDFS transaction landing on the operating line - a $301 million benefit in the provision for credit losses from classifying $4.1 billion of receivables as held for sale, plus a $27 million gain on sale of residual interests. Reported OI is contaminated by those dollars and cannot vouch for itself, so the operating-line contamination rule applies. Both items are on the closed qualifying-gain list (credit-loss allowance release; gain on sale of an asset). Ex-gain OI = 478,670 - 328,000 = $150,670K versus prior-year $105,796K = +42.42%. The $27M also sits in revenue, so the basis-matched comparison strips it from both sides: ex-gain revenue 1,313,710 versus 1,150,695 = +14.17%, spread +28.25 percentage points. Against unadjusted GAAP revenue the spread is +25.90 percentage points. Both are far outside +5 percentage points in the same direction, so EPS adjustment = +1 either way and the conclusion does not turn on the choice. Purely subtractive per the clause: the gain is stripped from the period containing it and the prior year is left alone - no hypothetical prior-year expense is re-imputed. This REPLACES the original reasoning, which reached the same +1 by declaring that 'the rubric has no admissible route to 0 here' and invoking a 'prefer the smaller-magnitude adjustment' rule that exists nowhere in the repo. The value was right; the route was not. AUDIT-GAPS entry closed.
+
Guidance0Guidance 0No change to guidance. The company-level FY2025 outlook remains withdrawn ('we continue to withhold our full year 2025 financial outlook for HDMC and HDI'), the withdrawal itself was already scored -3 in FY2025-Q1, and the only standing figure, HDFS operating income of approximately $525 million to $550 million, was merely reiterated from Q2 with no change. Management explicitly declined to guide 2026. -> 0. Both midpoint fields null. The max-5 'forward guidance withdrawn' ceiling is keyed to the quarter in which guidance is actually withdrawn (FY2025-Q1, where the -3 was taken) and does not re-fire on a standing withholding; the binding ceiling here is the majority negative/mixed themes cap of 6.
=
Final6
Hard cap6Hard cap 6Calculated total was 9; capped at 6. Majority of themes were negative or mixed, which caps the score at 6. See the Hard caps section on the About page for the full rules.
How this score was built
Base8Base 8GAAP revenue YoY +16.5% → base 8. The base score is anchored to the GAAP revenue YoY band before transcript, EPS, and guidance adjustments.+Transcript0Transcript 0GAAP revenue growth is management-confirmed ('Consolidated revenue in the third quarter was up 17%') and is real motorcycle volume: 20 of the 23 points of HDMC revenue growth came from wholesale shipments up 33% to 36,500 units against a destocked prior-year comp. Revenue does carry a $27 million gain on sale of HDFS securitization residual interests inside other income, but management stated no adjusted revenue growth rate and the implied ex-gain figure differs by under 3 percentage points, below the Tier 1 threshold. Consumer Cyclical motorcycle manufacturing is not on the Sector Rules Table closed list, so no Tier 2 is available. -> 0.+EPS+1EPS +1Re-scored 2026-07-29 under the closed qualifying-GAIN list. The raw GAAP figures are unusable here: GAAP EPS YoY +240.66% and operating income YoY +352.45% give spreads of +224.15 percentage points and +335.94 percentage points, both inflated by the same HDFS transaction landing on the operating line - a $301 million benefit in the provision for credit losses from classifying $4.1 billion of receivables as held for sale, plus a $27 million gain on sale of residual interests. Reported OI is contaminated by those dollars and cannot vouch for itself, so the operating-line contamination rule applies. Both items are on the closed qualifying-gain list (credit-loss allowance release; gain on sale of an asset). Ex-gain OI = 478,670 - 328,000 = $150,670K versus prior-year $105,796K = +42.42%. The $27M also sits in revenue, so the basis-matched comparison strips it from both sides: ex-gain revenue 1,313,710 versus 1,150,695 = +14.17%, spread +28.25 percentage points. Against unadjusted GAAP revenue the spread is +25.90 percentage points. Both are far outside +5 percentage points in the same direction, so EPS adjustment = +1 either way and the conclusion does not turn on the choice. Purely subtractive per the clause: the gain is stripped from the period containing it and the prior year is left alone - no hypothetical prior-year expense is re-imputed. This REPLACES the original reasoning, which reached the same +1 by declaring that 'the rubric has no admissible route to 0 here' and invoking a 'prefer the smaller-magnitude adjustment' rule that exists nowhere in the repo. The value was right; the route was not. AUDIT-GAPS entry closed.+Guidance0Guidance 0No change to guidance. The company-level FY2025 outlook remains withdrawn ('we continue to withhold our full year 2025 financial outlook for HDMC and HDI'), the withdrawal itself was already scored -3 in FY2025-Q1, and the only standing figure, HDFS operating income of approximately $525 million to $550 million, was merely reiterated from Q2 with no change. Management explicitly declined to guide 2026. -> 0. Both midpoint fields null. The max-5 'forward guidance withdrawn' ceiling is keyed to the quarter in which guidance is actually withdrawn (FY2025-Q1, where the -3 was taken) and does not re-fire on a standing withholding; the binding ceiling here is the majority negative/mixed themes cap of 6.=Final6Hard cap6Hard cap 6Calculated total was 9; capped at 6. Majority of themes were negative or mixed, which caps the score at 6. See the Hard caps section on the About page for the full rules.
In the third quarter of 2025 Rivian returned to positive consolidated gross profit of $24 million despite several weeks of planned plant downtime, with cost of goods sold of about $96,300 per unit and its highest delivery quarter of the year at 13,201 vehicles on roughly $1.6 billion of revenue