UPDATE:Winnebago 4Q Loss Widens;'Worst May Be Over,' CEO Says

Winnebago Industries Inc.'s (WGO) shares jumped as much as 16% Thursday after the company's top executive said the mobile-home-sales slump may be over.

"We feel we are at or near the bottom of this downward cycle and that the worst may be over," Chief Executive Officer Robert Olson said in a media call. "Judging from our sales-order backlog, we believe dealer inventory has also bottomed now which we are confident will increase dealer inventories in fiscal 2010."

The company's sales backlog was at 940 units or $86.6 million, a 146% increase over its orders in the third quarter. Winnebago is also introducing new products in the 2010 fiscal year which include the Winnebago Toure and Itasca.

"With the terrific 2010 product lineup, increased market share, the growing backlog of orders and extreme low levels of inventory, we are optimistic about continuing to grow our market share as the year progress," Olson said.

Shares touched $16.44 before falling back. The stock recently was at $15.11, up 5.2%.

Sarah Nielson, Winnebago's chief financial officer, said the company will move from a "survival" mode to profitability, which will include more cost-cutting if needed. She declined to confirm whether the company will turn a profit in fiscal 2010.

"The six quarters we lived through were very, very painful, and we don't plan on continuing that," she said. "We've been surviving, but we need to move our focus from surviving to succeeding."

Winnebago has been streamlining and cutting inventories, which were down 58% from the end of the prior fiscal year. It also has been cutting jobs and closing production facilities while some rivals have expired or filed for bankruptcy amid the downturn.

For the fourth quarter, Winnebago said its loss widened to $50.2 million, or $1.73 a share, compared with a prior-year loss of $12.7 million, or 44 cents a share. Revenue dropped 30% to $59.5 million. Analysts, surveyed by Thomson Reuters, expected a loss of 24 cents a share.

The mobile-home and recreational-vehicle industry has been waiting for some signs over the past 18 months that consumers were returning to showrooms. The deep U.S. economic recession has caused shoppers to delay or skip their purchases. Access to credit has also hurt consumers as banks tightened standards to counter their growing losses.

Winnebago has also been hurt since it manufacturers and sells motor homes with an average price of $80,000 to $100,000 rather than the moderately priced trailers and other "towables" consumers had been buying.

-By Jeff Bennett and Tess Stynes, Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5542; [e-mail]