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American Morning

Minding Your Business: Winnebago Blues

Aired March 06, 2003 - 07:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Remember the Winnebago, the popular family roadster for some?
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, and having a tent growing up?

HEMMER: It's stuck in tough times.

ZAHN: We always wanted one of those Winnebagos -- never had one.

HEMMER: Andy Serwer is here to talk about that. First the markets, though, yesterday they actually gained. What gives there?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, a bit of a reprieve.

HEMMER: That's not like the stock market.

SERWER: No, absolutely. A reprieve, yes; the start of something big, I would not count on it.

Investors got a little richer yesterday, Bill. Stocks moved up, but not with a lot of confidence. Up 70 points on the Dow, as we saw there; the other indexes going up as well.

Low volume. People really sitting on their hands waiting this one out, just like the rest of America, watching and waiting as far as the international developments.

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SERWER: That's right.

We do want to talk about Winnebago. An interesting story here. Just a sort of an example of a company that really is feeling the tough times. You know, we talk about the economy, we talk about oil prices, we talk about consumer confidence. And here's a company that had been actually in very good shape really feeling the pinch of all of these economic woes right now. Winnebago, of course, the proud of Forest City, Iowa, Bill. And actually the company is not as old as I thought. They actually started making Winnebagos in 1966. The company is not as old as you might think.

The stock, though, is just really taking a tremendous beating right now. You can see here it's down nearly 50 percent in three months. The reason for that: high gas prices...

HEMMER: Right. SERWER: ... I mean, you've got to fill those babies up, consumer confidence and also people are just concerned about buying big-ticket items like that given the situation with Iraq and terrorism. So, it's a really tough situation.

HEMMER: Is this outside of any revenue stream for them? These are factors that influence Winnebago?

SERWER: Oh, absolutely, yes. I mean, because sales of them are really starting to flag. People are suggesting their backlog is up. People are holding off purchasing these as they're holding off making purchases both in the consumer sector and for businesses as well.

HEMMER: What did you say, people are sitting on their hands...

SERWER: Sitting on their hands.

HEMMER: ... in both of them?

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: Oh, I got to think Jack Nicholson driving around one in "About Schmidt," his new movie.

SERWER: That was some great (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

ZAHN: It helps a little.

SERWER: Yes, absolutely.

ZAHN: I wonder if that was product placement. It probably was. They probably did get some dough for that, didn't they?

SERWER: I don't know how that works, but I'm sure they liked it.

ZAHN: Thanks, Andy.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired March 6, 2003 - 07:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Remember the Winnebago, the popular family roadster for some?
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, and having a tent growing up?

HEMMER: It's stuck in tough times.

ZAHN: We always wanted one of those Winnebagos -- never had one.

HEMMER: Andy Serwer is here to talk about that. First the markets, though, yesterday they actually gained. What gives there?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, a bit of a reprieve.

HEMMER: That's not like the stock market.

SERWER: No, absolutely. A reprieve, yes; the start of something big, I would not count on it.

Investors got a little richer yesterday, Bill. Stocks moved up, but not with a lot of confidence. Up 70 points on the Dow, as we saw there; the other indexes going up as well.

Low volume. People really sitting on their hands waiting this one out, just like the rest of America, watching and waiting as far as the international developments.

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SERWER: That's right.

We do want to talk about Winnebago. An interesting story here. Just a sort of an example of a company that really is feeling the tough times. You know, we talk about the economy, we talk about oil prices, we talk about consumer confidence. And here's a company that had been actually in very good shape really feeling the pinch of all of these economic woes right now. Winnebago, of course, the proud of Forest City, Iowa, Bill. And actually the company is not as old as I thought. They actually started making Winnebagos in 1966. The company is not as old as you might think.

The stock, though, is just really taking a tremendous beating right now. You can see here it's down nearly 50 percent in three months. The reason for that: high gas prices...

HEMMER: Right. SERWER: ... I mean, you've got to fill those babies up, consumer confidence and also people are just concerned about buying big-ticket items like that given the situation with Iraq and terrorism. So, it's a really tough situation.

HEMMER: Is this outside of any revenue stream for them? These are factors that influence Winnebago?

SERWER: Oh, absolutely, yes. I mean, because sales of them are really starting to flag. People are suggesting their backlog is up. People are holding off purchasing these as they're holding off making purchases both in the consumer sector and for businesses as well.

HEMMER: What did you say, people are sitting on their hands...

SERWER: Sitting on their hands.

HEMMER: ... in both of them?

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: Oh, I got to think Jack Nicholson driving around one in "About Schmidt," his new movie.

SERWER: That was some great (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

ZAHN: It helps a little.

SERWER: Yes, absolutely.

ZAHN: I wonder if that was product placement. It probably was. They probably did get some dough for that, didn't they?

SERWER: I don't know how that works, but I'm sure they liked it.

ZAHN: Thanks, Andy.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.