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Imagine a manufacturing and wholesale distribution company whose fortunes are dependent on higher-income customers with discretionary income, readily available access to credit and an optimistic view to the future. Now add a financial services component that extends credit to the company's dealers and customers.
Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) is just such a company.
Harley is a classic case of a company that prospered immensely from the combination of an aging baby boomer population and a massive increase in the appearance of wealth resulting from unprecedented increases in home values and a stock market that exploded to new heights during the last 10 years.
Now that both of these bubbles have burst, HOG is feeling the impact of a recalcitrant consumer and mounting problems with the loan portfolio of its financial arm, Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS).
As an American icon, Harley Davidson's line of heavyweight touring, custom and performance motorcycles is the most visible (and audible) symbol of American self-indulgence.
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