Only one thing worth looking at today:

Harley Tops Profit Estimate, to Cut Jobs; Shares Rise. From the article:

Net income slid 37 percent to $117.3 million, or 50 cents a share, from $187.6 million, or 79 cents, a year earlier, the Milwaukee-based company said in a statement today. That was better than analysts expected, excluding some costs.

The earnings decline was Harley’s seventh in a row amid a recession that’s causing consumers to shun purchases such as motorcycles costing more than $40,000 when customized. A new estimate of 300 to 400 more job cuts follows a January plan to trim 1,100 positions by 2010.

“The big standout is how well they did in the U.S. versus the competition,” said Robin Diedrich, an Edward Jones & Co. analyst in St. Louis with a “hold” rating on Harley shares. “Their shipments were better than they had planned, which lead to some much better margins.”

Harley-Davidson makes 5.6% of their net revenues from merchandise (76.5% from selling motorcycles). They put an emphasis on the brand. I doubt there’s an equal mention of MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter in the quarterly conference call for their competitors. They put a lot of effort into having a premium brand. The problem with this is that if social mood is changing towards frugality, premium brands are not the place you want to be.

Harley financing is doing about as well as you’d expect.

“Bikes get you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no bikes.” —Phineas