Latest news with #PolarisInc
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Polaris Inc. (PII) the Best Dividend Growth Stock with High Yields?
We recently published a list of the . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) stands against other best dividend growth stocks. Dividend-paying stocks have been gaining popularity among investors due to their long-term advantages. According to Jeremy Zirin, who leads the US equity team for private clients at UBS Asset Management, companies with a consistent track record of increasing dividends are a smart choice for investors seeking a balanced approach in the current market environment. When markets dipped in April after President Donald Trump announced new tariff policies, investors gravitated toward high-yield dividend stocks. However, as trade tensions began to ease and negotiations progressed, markets recovered. Stocks surged particularly after the US and China agreed to temporarily reduce tariffs. He made the following comment about dividend stocks: 'The higher-dividend-yielding strategies tend to do better when markets are in real turmoil and declining, but if there's more chop, more volatility and potentially upside … you don't want to be overly defensive.' Historically, companies that consistently increase their dividends have tended to be less volatile and often delivered stronger returns than the broader market, including benchmarks like the S&P Equal Weight Index. According to a report by Guggenheim, from May 2005 through December 2024, firms that either initiated or raised their dividends generated an average annual return of 10.5%. In contrast, companies that cut or suspended their payouts posted just 5.5% annually. The overall market returned 10.4% during this timeframe, slightly behind the dividend growers. The report also highlighted that dividend growth strategies have historically performed well in both rising and falling markets, making them an attractive option for investors focused on long-term gains and downside protection. According to a report by S&P Global, the growth of global dividend payments had been slowing since the post-COVID recovery, but that trend reversed last year. In 2024, the growth rate unexpectedly accelerated to 8%, with shareholders receiving approximately $180 billion more than the previous year. This increase came as a surprise given the persistent geopolitical and economic challenges. The report also highlighted that several sectors and regions saw record dividend initiations, including the US technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector, banks in Italy and Spain, Japan's automotive industry, and a general rise in payouts from Mainland China. Even with extreme price fluctuations, dividend payments from the oil and gas sector remained strong. Looking ahead, the report suggested that this high level of dividends is likely to hold steady, with global payouts expected to remain at $2.3 trillion in 2025. With growing investor appetite for dividend-paying stocks, many companies have responded by gradually increasing their dividend payouts. A report by Janus Henderson revealed that global dividend payments reached a record $1.75 trillion in 2024, reflecting a 6.6% rise on an underlying basis. The overall growth rate came in at 5.2%, slightly held back by a drop in special one-time dividends and the effect of a stronger U.S. dollar. Out of the 49 countries covered in the report, 17—including major economies such as the US, Canada, France, Japan, and China—posted record-high dividend levels. In total, 88% of companies either raised or held their dividends steady over the year. A motorcyclist enjoying the open road on a sunny day. For this list, we screened for dividend stocks with yields higher than 3% as of May 13. From this group, we further refined our selection criteria by identifying stocks with a dividend growth streak of 10 years or more. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their dividend yields. At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with hedge funds. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). Dividend Yield as of May 13: 6.98% Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) is a well-established automotive manufacturer with a 70-year history. The company focuses on powersports vehicles, which are divided into three core segments: off-road vehicles (such as ATVs, snowmobiles, and side-by-sides), on-road vehicles (including motorcycles and light-duty utility models), and marine offerings like pontoons and deck boats. Polaris maintains a leading or second-place market position across all the categories it serves. Its extensive dealer network helps the company effectively distribute its vehicles and accessories while supporting robust investment in R&D to enhance safety, performance, design, and innovation. In the first quarter of 2025, Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) posted mixed results. Revenue reached $1.5 billion, down 12% year-over-year. However, the revenue still came in $10 million above Wall Street expectations. North American sales, which made up 84% of the total, were close to $1.3 billion, representing an 11% decline from the prior year. The overall sales dip was mainly driven by weaker volumes and softer net pricing, partly due to increased promotional activity, though this was somewhat balanced by a better product mix. Despite these challenges, Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) maintained a solid financial position. The company closed the quarter with $291.7 million in cash and cash equivalents. Operating cash flow also saw a turnaround, improving to $83.2 million compared to an outflow of $105 million in the same quarter of 2024. The company has been growing its payouts for 30 consecutive years, which makes it one of the best dividend stocks. Its quarterly dividend is $0.67 per share for a dividend yield of 6.98%, as of May 13. Overall, PII ranks 2nd on our list of the best dividend growth stocks with high yields. While we acknowledge the potential of PII as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than PII but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at . Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Is Polaris Inc. (PII) Among the Best Car Stocks To Buy In 2025?
We recently compiled a list of the 13 Best Car Stocks To Buy In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) stands against the other car stocks. Car stocks are the stock holdings of businesses engaged in the automotive market, such as those that produce automobiles, auto parts, or industry-related services. According to Reuters, U.S. new car sales in 2024 grew significantly from their pandemic lows due to increased production, restocked inventory, and growing demand for hybrid cars. As per Wards Intelligence, new car sales in the United States hit 15.9 million in 2024, up 2.2% from 2023 and the highest since 2019. In 2025, S&P Global forecasts that global sales of new light vehicles, or passenger cars and trucks, are projected to rise 1.7% to 89.6 million units. The overall reduction of 2025 automotive estimates reflects anticipated changes in US policy following the election. There will be significant impacts on the demand for vehicles as a result, particularly on interest rates, trade flows, sourcing, and the rates of BEV adoption. Colin Couchman, executive director of global light vehicle forecasting for S&P Global Mobility, commented: '2025 is shaping up to be ultra-challenging for the auto industry, as key regional demand factors limit demand potential and the new US administration adds fresh uncertainty from day one,' 'A key concern is how 'natural' EV demand fares as governments rethink policy support, especially incentives and subsidies, industrial policy, tariffs, and fast evolving OEM target setting.' Chris Hopson, principal analyst at S&P Global Mobility, recently stated that consumers who are considering buying a new car are hurrying to dealers before possible price implications become apparent. The sales spikes in March and April might open the way for future volatility. In the next three months, automakers will face new, tariffed inventory and production levels in addition to unstable economic conditions. In response to industry criticism, President Trump recently introduced a two-year relief provision linked to domestic sales and manufacturing volume, which loosened the recently imposed 25% tariffs on cars and parts. Now, automakers with U.S. factories can deduct import taxes on parts, starting at 3.75% of the suggested retail price of a car in the first year, and then 2.5% in the second year. Vehicles with 85% U.S., Canadian, or Mexican parts are exempt from tariffs, which will rise to 90% by next year. Furthermore, the administration exempted these companies from overlapping taxes on Canadian and Mexican commodities, steel, and aluminum. After industry groups warned that the duties, which went into effect in March for automobiles and on May 3 for parts, would increase auto prices, lower sales, and negatively impact service costs, the move was made.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysts Estimate Polaris Inc (PII) to Report a Decline in Earnings: What to Look Out for
Polaris Inc (PII) is expected to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended March 2025. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price. The earnings report, which is expected to be released on April 29, 2025, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise. This snowmobile and ATV maker is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.92 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -500%. Revenues are expected to be $1.54 billion, down 11.1% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 8.21% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts. Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only. A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP. Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell). For Polaris Inc, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +1.09%. On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4. So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Polaris Inc will beat the consensus EPS estimate. While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Polaris Inc would post earnings of $0.88 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.92, delivering a surprise of +4.55%. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times. An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss. That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Polaris Inc doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release. Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Polaris Inc. (PII) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Associated Press
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Indian Motorcycle Dealers Top-Ranked for Third Year in 2025 Study Measuring Response to Website Customers
Polaris Inc's Indian Motorcycle dealerships ranked highest in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI ® Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ® ) Powersports Industry Study, measuring responsiveness to internet sales leads coming through dealership websites. Following Indian were Harley-Davidson, BMW, and BRP's Can-Am off-road dealers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Source: 2025 Pied Piper Powersports Internet Lead Effectiveness Industry Study (USA) Pied Piper submitted customer inquiries through 2,523 powersports dealership websites representing 27 brands. Each inquiry asked a specific question about a vehicle in inventory and included a new customer name, email address, and local telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated the speed and quality of dealership responses by email, telephone, text message and chat over the next 24 hours. Each brand's overall ILE Score is a combined average of their individual dealer ILE performances. ILE evaluations consist of over 20 differently weighted measurements, based upon best practices that are mathematically most likely to generate sales, combining into an overall ILE score ranging from 0 to 100. Indian Ranked Highest for Third Consecutive Year: What Sets Them Apart? 2025 marks the third year in a row the Indian brand achieved the top score in the annual ILE powersports industry study. The Indian brand improved their average score by one point for 2025, reaching an average ILE score of 56. Answering Customer's Question More Often: Indian dealers this year answered their customer's question by email/text 67% of the time on average, improving six points over last year and 17 points higher than the 2025 industry average. Higher Rate of Phone Response: Compared to the industry overall, Indian dealers maintain an eight point lead in the rate of phone response to customer inquiries, occurring 58% of the time on average. 'Did Both' for More Inquiries: Indian dealers 'did both' (answering an inquiry by email/text and also phoning, improving the odds of a response reaching the customer) 46% of the time on average, eight points higher than last year and 20 points higher than the industry average. 'The Indian motorcycle brand has maintained industry leading web-response behaviors during a challenging time in the powersports industry,' said Cameron O'Hagan, Pied Piper's Vice President of Metrics and Analytics. 'Two years ago, when market conditions were more favorable, dealers could easily afford to expand their staff and refine operations. Today, however, tougher conditions have many dealers battling just to keep the lights on.' How Did the Industry Perform Over the Past Year? The overall powersports industry average ILE score remained the same over the last year, both with ILE scores of 44. Powersports dealers in 2025 improved phone behaviors and rate of response, but also experienced declines in other important areas, resulting in no overall change in total ILE Score. Behaviors that Improved: Powersports dealers in 2025 performed better in phone and text response, and the rate of dealers failing to respond occurred less often: More Phone Response: Dealers this year were 5 points more likely to respond to online customer inquiries by phone, occurring 50% of the time on average. Better Use of Texting: Customers were more likely to receive a text response answering their question, increasing 5 points to an overall rate this year of 30%. Fewer Failures to Respond: Dealers failed to respond to online inquiries less often this year, occurring only 9% of the time on average. Behaviors in Decline: There were two notable declines in behavior that held back overall industry score improvement: Less Emails Answering Questions: Dealers answered customers' questions by email 27% of the time on average in 2025, down from 35% last year. Not Offering Appointments as Often: Only 10% of customers in 2025 received a response that included an offer to set up an appointment, in contrast to last year where it occurred 13% of the time on average. What is the '80/40 Rule' and How Does it Relate to the Powersports Industry? In the 2025 powersports industry study, 13% of all dealerships measured scored above 80 (providing quick and thorough personal responses), while 42% of dealerships scored below 40 (failing to personally respond to website customers). The 'over 80' and 'under 40' segments each shrank by 1% since last year, with a larger pool of dealers performing in the space between both categories. 'The effort to improve from the under 40 bucket into the over 80 is worth it,' said O'Hagan. 'Historically, we have found that dealers who improve their ILE performance from scoring under 40 to scoring over 80 on average sell 50% more units from the same quantity of website customer leads.' What is the Powersports Industry's Greatest Opportunity for Improvement? There are two different key areas of improvement for powersports dealers, depending on their current performance level. One in four powersports dealerships currently fail to personally respond to website customer inquiries. For this group of dealers, the sole focus should be a commitment to always personally respond to online customers at least once each day. 'Just as you wouldn't lock up at the end of the day with a physical customer still wandering around the showroom, don't leave your digital customers hanging overnight in your digital showroom waiting for your reply,' said O'Hagan. For the rest of the dealers, the step with the greatest opportunity is to embrace a reliable multi-channel communication strategy, rather than responding to customers using only email, only phone, or only text. In this year's study, powersports dealers failed to use multiple paths 74% of time, leaving many of their responses susceptible to communication breakdowns beyond the dealer's control. 'Emails can land in spam/junk and be missed, customers often ignore calls from an unknown number and don't listen to voicemail, and even texts can be lost or ignored among the large volume of messages many people receive per day,' said O'Hagan. 'A consistent multi-pronged response to every customer is critical since you never know in advance which communication method will be most effective at reaching a specific customer. Then, once contact is established, adopt the successful method for future interactions with the customer.' 2025 Brand Performance Compared: Response to customer web inquiries within a 24-hour period in 2025 had large variations by brand, as shown by these examples: 'Phoned Customer' - How often did the brand's dealerships respond by phone to a website customer's inquiry? More than 50% of the time on average: Harley-Davidson, Indian, Honda, Can-Am Less than 30% of the time on average: Arctic Cat, Roxor, Moto Guzzi, Cub Cadet 'Offered an Appointment' - How often did the brand's dealerships offer to set an appointment for specific date/time? More than 15% of the time on average: Can-Am, Indian, Polaris, Segway Less than 1% of the time on average: John Deere, Tracker (Bass Pro Shops), Cub Cadet 'Did at Least One' - How often did the brand's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question and/or respond by phone? More than 80% of the time on average: BMW, KTM, Moto Guzzi, Harley-Davidson Less than 50% of the time on average: Roxor, Cub Cadet 'Did Both' - How often did the brand's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question and also phone the customer? More than 30% of the time on average: Indian, Harley-Davidson, Triumph Less than 10% of the time on average: Kymco, Tracker (Bass Pro Shops), Cub Cadet Why Was This Study Conducted? 'Customers today visit dealer websites first, and how dealers respond to those customers drives today's sales success,' said O'Hagan. 'The trouble is that website customers can be invisible in day-to-day operations which makes them too easy to overlook.' For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares. Pied Piper clients order ongoing Prospect Satisfaction Index ® (PSI ® ) measurement and reporting – internet, telephone or in-person – for their dealerships, as tools to improve and maintain omnichannel sales and service effectiveness. Pied Piper clients have found that the key to driving dealership improvement is showing what sales and service customers are really experiencing – which is often a surprise. About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC Monterey, California - based Pied Piper helps brands and national retailer groups improve the omnichannel sales & service performance of their retailers. Pied Piper's PSI process applies data science analytics to determine the omnichannel sales and service best practices most likely to drive unit sales and loyalty. PSI then uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human actors to measure and report how effectively retail locations follow those best practices. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies include the 2024 Service Telephone Effectiveness ® (STE ® ) Powersport Industry Study (Triumph brand was ranked first), the 2024 Telephone Lead Effectiveness ™ (TLE ™ ) Pontoon Boat Industry Study (BRP's Sea-Doo brand ranked first), and the 2025 Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ® ) Auto Industry Study (Subaru was ranked first). For more information about Prospect Satisfaction Index ® study results or to apply ongoing PSI measurement and reporting to improve performance, go to This press release is provided for editorial use only, and information contained in this release may not be used for advertising or otherwise promoting brands mentioned in this release without specific, written permission from Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. SOURCE: Pied Piper Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 04/07/2025 12:01 AM/DISC: 04/07/2025 12:02 AM
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Indian Motorcycle Dealers Top-Ranked for Third Year in 2025 Study Measuring Response to Website Customers
Overall industry average score unchanged: improvements in phone behaviors and overall response rate offset by fewer personal email responses MONTEREY, Calif., April 07, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Polaris Inc's Indian Motorcycle dealerships ranked highest in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Powersports Industry Study, measuring responsiveness to internet sales leads coming through dealership websites. Following Indian were Harley-Davidson, BMW, and BRP's Can-Am off-road dealers. Pied Piper submitted customer inquiries through 2,523 powersports dealership websites representing 27 brands. Each inquiry asked a specific question about a vehicle in inventory and included a new customer name, email address, and local telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated the speed and quality of dealership responses by email, telephone, text message and chat over the next 24 hours. Each brand's overall ILE Score is a combined average of their individual dealer ILE performances. ILE evaluations consist of over 20 differently weighted measurements, based upon best practices that are mathematically most likely to generate sales, combining into an overall ILE score ranging from 0 to 100. Indian Ranked Highest for Third Consecutive Year: What Sets Them Apart? 2025 marks the third year in a row the Indian brand achieved the top score in the annual ILE powersports industry study. The Indian brand improved their average score by one point for 2025, reaching an average ILE score of 56. Answering Customer's Question More Often: Indian dealers this year answered their customer's question by email/text 67% of the time on average, improving six points over last year and 17 points higher than the 2025 industry average. Higher Rate of Phone Response: Compared to the industry overall, Indian dealers maintain an eight point lead in the rate of phone response to customer inquiries, occurring 58% of the time on average. "Did Both" for More Inquiries: Indian dealers "did both" (answering an inquiry by email/text and also phoning, improving the odds of a response reaching the customer) 46% of the time on average, eight points higher than last year and 20 points higher than the industry average. "The Indian motorcycle brand has maintained industry leading web-response behaviors during a challenging time in the powersports industry," said Cameron O'Hagan, Pied Piper's Vice President of Metrics and Analytics. "Two years ago, when market conditions were more favorable, dealers could easily afford to expand their staff and refine operations. Today, however, tougher conditions have many dealers battling just to keep the lights on." How Did the Industry Perform Over the Past Year? The overall powersports industry average ILE score remained the same over the last year, both with ILE scores of 44. Powersports dealers in 2025 improved phone behaviors and rate of response, but also experienced declines in other important areas, resulting in no overall change in total ILE Score. Behaviors that Improved: Powersports dealers in 2025 performed better in phone and text response, and the rate of dealers failing to respond occurred less often: More Phone Response: Dealers this year were 5 points more likely to respond to online customer inquiries by phone, occurring 50% of the time on average. Better Use of Texting: Customers were more likely to receive a text response answering their question, increasing 5 points to an overall rate this year of 30%. Fewer Failures to Respond: Dealers failed to respond to online inquiries less often this year, occurring only 9% of the time on average. Behaviors in Decline: There were two notable declines in behavior that held back overall industry score improvement: Less Emails Answering Questions: Dealers answered customers' questions by email 27% of the time on average in 2025, down from 35% last year. Not Offering Appointments as Often: Only 10% of customers in 2025 received a response that included an offer to set up an appointment, in contrast to last year where it occurred 13% of the time on average. What is the "80/40 Rule" and How Does it Relate to the Powersports Industry? In the 2025 powersports industry study, 13% of all dealerships measured scored above 80 (providing quick and thorough personal responses), while 42% of dealerships scored below 40 (failing to personally respond to website customers). The "over 80" and "under 40" segments each shrank by 1% since last year, with a larger pool of dealers performing in the space between both categories. "The effort to improve from the under 40 bucket into the over 80 is worth it," said O'Hagan. "Historically, we have found that dealers who improve their ILE performance from scoring under 40 to scoring over 80 on average sell 50% more units from the same quantity of website customer leads." What is the Powersports Industry's Greatest Opportunity for Improvement? There are two different key areas of improvement for powersports dealers, depending on their current performance level. One in four powersports dealerships currently fail to personally respond to website customer inquiries. For this group of dealers, the sole focus should be a commitment to always personally respond to online customers at least once each day. "Just as you wouldn't lock up at the end of the day with a physical customer still wandering around the showroom, don't leave your digital customers hanging overnight in your digital showroom waiting for your reply," said O'Hagan. For the rest of the dealers, the step with the greatest opportunity is to embrace a reliable multi-channel communication strategy, rather than responding to customers using only email, only phone, or only text. In this year's study, powersports dealers failed to use multiple paths 74% of time, leaving many of their responses susceptible to communication breakdowns beyond the dealer's control. "Emails can land in spam/junk and be missed, customers often ignore calls from an unknown number and don't listen to voicemail, and even texts can be lost or ignored among the large volume of messages many people receive per day," said O'Hagan. "A consistent multi-pronged response to every customer is critical since you never know in advance which communication method will be most effective at reaching a specific customer. Then, once contact is established, adopt the successful method for future interactions with the customer." 2025 Brand Performance Compared: Response to customer web inquiries within a 24-hour period in 2025 had large variations by brand, as shown by these examples: "Answered Question" - How often did the brand's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question? More than 65% of the time on average: BMW, Moto Guzzi, Indian, Ducati Less than 35% of the time on average: Roxor, Kymco, Tracker (Bass Pro Shops) "Phoned Customer" - How often did the brand's dealerships respond by phone to a website customer's inquiry? More than 50% of the time on average: Harley-Davidson, Indian, Honda, Can-Am Less than 30% of the time on average: Arctic Cat, Roxor, Moto Guzzi, Cub Cadet "Offered an Appointment" - How often did the brand's dealerships offer to set an appointment for specific date/time? More than 15% of the time on average: Can-Am, Indian, Polaris, Segway Less than 1% of the time on average: John Deere, Tracker (Bass Pro Shops), Cub Cadet "Did at Least One" - How often did the brand's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question and/or respond by phone? More than 80% of the time on average: BMW, KTM, Moto Guzzi, Harley-Davidson Less than 50% of the time on average: Roxor, Cub Cadet "Did Both" - How often did the brand's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question and also phone the customer? More than 30% of the time on average: Indian, Harley-Davidson, Triumph Less than 10% of the time on average: Kymco, Tracker (Bass Pro Shops), Cub Cadet Why Was This Study Conducted? "Customers today visit dealer websites first, and how dealers respond to those customers drives today's sales success," said O'Hagan. "The trouble is that website customers can be invisible in day-to-day operations which makes them too easy to overlook." For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares. Pied Piper clients order ongoing Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) measurement and reporting – internet, telephone or in-person – for their dealerships, as tools to improve and maintain omnichannel sales and service effectiveness. Pied Piper clients have found that the key to driving dealership improvement is showing what sales and service customers are really experiencing – which is often a surprise. About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC Monterey, California - based Pied Piper helps brands and national retailer groups improve the omnichannel sales & service performance of their retailers. Pied Piper's PSI process applies data science analytics to determine the omnichannel sales and service best practices most likely to drive unit sales and loyalty. PSI then uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human actors to measure and report how effectively retail locations follow those best practices. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies include the 2024 Service Telephone Effectiveness® (STE®) Powersport Industry Study (Triumph brand was ranked first), the 2024 Telephone Lead Effectiveness™ (TLE™) Pontoon Boat Industry Study (BRP's Sea-Doo brand ranked first), and the 2025 Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Industry Study (Subaru was ranked first). For more information about Prospect Satisfaction Index® study results or to apply ongoing PSI measurement and reporting to improve performance, go to This press release is provided for editorial use only, and information contained in this release may not be used for advertising or otherwise promoting brands mentioned in this release without specific, written permission from Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. View source version on Contacts Ryan Scottrscott@ (831)648-1075 Sign in to access your portfolio
