Quarterly earnings results are a good time to check in on a company’s progress, especially compared to its peers in the same sector. Today we are looking at Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) and the best and worst performers in the leisure products industry.

Leisure products cover a wide range of goods in the consumer discretionary sector. Maintaining a strong brand is key to success, and those who differentiate themselves will enjoy customer loyalty and pricing power while those who don’t may find themselves in precarious positions due to the non-essential nature of their offerings.

The 16 leisure products stocks we track reported a slower Q2. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 16.6% below.

Big picture, the Federal Reserve has a dual mandate of inflation and employment. The former had been running hot throughout 2021 and 2022 but cooled towards the central bank's 2% target as of late. This prompted the Fed to cut its policy rate by 50bps (half a percent) in September 2024. Given recent employment data that suggests the US economy could be wobbling, the markets will be assessing whether this rate and future cuts (the Fed signaled more to come in 2024 and 2025) are the right moves at the right time or whether they're too little, too late for a macro that has already cooled.

Thankfully, leisure products stocks have been resilient with share prices up 8.3% on average since the latest earnings results.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Founded in 1903, Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) is an American motorcycle manufacturer known for its heavyweight motorcycles designed for cruising on highways.

Harley-Davidson reported revenues of $1.62 billion, up 12% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 27.2%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ earnings estimates and a decent beat of analysts’ motorcycles sold estimates.

Harley-Davidson pulled off the biggest analyst estimates beat of the whole group. Unsurprisingly, the stock is up 15.3% since reporting and currently trades at $39.06.

Is now the time to buy Harley-Davidson? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Best Q2: American Outdoor Brands (NASDAQ:AOUT)

Spun off from Smith and Wesson in 2020, American Outdoor Brands (NASDAQ:AOUT) is an outdoor and recreational products company that offers firearms and firearm accessories.

American Outdoor Brands reported revenues of $41.64 million, down 4.1% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 1.4%. The business had a very strong quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ earnings estimates.