Camping World Still Exploring All Options with Good Sam – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Highlighted by “double-digit same-store sales momentum and market share growth,” Camping World Holdings Inc. (CWHI) CEO Marcus Lemonis painted a positive picture Thursday (May 2) of the company’s quarterly performance.
At the same time, Lemonis, who was speaking to investment analysts following the release of CWHI’s Q1 report, also mentioned the company continues to explore all options with regard to its Good Sam Enterprises operations, which recently rebranded and expanded beyond its RV core market.
“We’ve been working with Goldman Sachs to explore alternatives, as it relates to our Good Sam business, which was coming off a record year in 2023. Through that process, we have been pleased by the number of interested parties who see the strength of the brand and the opportunity and the value associated with it,” Lemonis said in his prepared remarks.
“Our team has continued to discuss this internally and we believe that our ability to grow this business by allowing our Good Sam team the flexibility to expand into the larger recreational space, not just RVs, will not only yield-enhanced earnings, but would allow us to widen our spot prospect audience from the boating and powersports categories while we continue to explore alternatives,” Lemonis said.
In addition, he said CWHI continues to “eliminate underperforming or non-core assets,” which included the sale of one RV dealership location and having signed a definitive agreement to sell its furniture manufacturing business.
COO Matt Wagner, for his part, said the company is outpacing the industry with same-store new unit sales increasing 16% in the first quarter, which he attributed to disciplined inventory management – a notion, he added, that supports “our previously stated thesis that lower priced RVs are a highly elastic good.”
“Today, we are sitting with less than 3,800 model year 2023’s, continuing to significantly outpace the industry with almost 90% of our new inventory and current model year 2024’s,” Wagner said, noting CWHI sold nearly 16,900 new units in the first quarter, an increase of over 20%, and that they anticipate the new average selling prices will hover around the $38,000 range.
“Against this backdrop, we maintained a regimented approach to procuring used inventory, having purchased 60% less used through the first four months of this year,” Wagner said. “As we sit here today, we have 35% fewer used in inventory compared to last year. We largely did this because the used RV market lacks the infrastructure and institutional participation needed to create an efficient market. We responded to this need and we launched CW Auctions in December. We witnessed immediate interest from consumers, wholesalers, banks and manufacturers alike. Over the course of the last five auctions, we amassed over 2.2 million unique views and hundreds of unit sales during the soft launch period.”
Lastly, Lemonis said CWHI’s focus on the remainder of 2024 is simple: “Continue to see material sales and profit improvement in our existing 211 RV dealership locations, find ways to continue our new market share expansion, expanding our market making ability on use … and return to our internal expectations on SG&A (Selling, General & Administrative expenses), while maintaining the same opportunistic approach to acquisitions as we drive towards our goal of 320 locations by 2028,” he said.
