It would be easy to think that Canadian recreational company BRP (TSE:DOO) would be suffering as the economic picture darkens worldwide amid mounting uncertainty. After all, personal watercraft or snowmobiles do not exactly fall under the heading of “necessities” in such an environment. Still, BRP’s earnings report gave it a little extra edge, and investors responded in a big way, sending shares blasting up nearly 7.5% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
Here is the particularly interesting part: BRP actually posted a loss for the fourth quarter, around $0.60 per diluted share, reports noted. That was a catastrophe; not only was it an outright loss, but it was also a plunge from the fourth quarter of the previous year Then, BRP posted a profit of $3.95 per diluted share. So BRP went from a profit of $302.8 million in that fourth quarter to a loss of $44.5 million a year later.
Revenue, meanwhile, was clearly down, but not that much. In last year’s fourth quarter, BRP brought in $2.6 billion, But in this year’s fourth quarter, it brought in just $2.1 billion. That is half a billion dollars’ worth of difference, but making $2 billion in any quarter still qualifies as a win most anywhere. The biggest reason for the hit is connected to an “impairment charge” that BRP took as it put its marine business up for sale.
Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads
Meanwhile, in a move that probably should not have inspired the kind of confidence it did, BRP suspended guidance for its 2026 financial year. Why? Basically, for the reason we mentioned offhandedly in the intro paragraph: there is simply too much uncertainty out there right now to try and offer up likely trajectories for earnings and revenue.
And it is more than just a matter of macroeconomics. Tariff disputes are a much closer consequence right now, as are issues of trade regulations. Those alone are serious complications, and the impact of these is not easily traced. But throw in the impact of all that uncertainty on potential snowmobile or jet ski buyers and the end result turns out to be one nice big fog bank that cannot be readily mapped.
Is BRP Group a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSE:DOO stock based on three Buys, five Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 36.23% loss in its share price over the past year, the average TSE:DOO price target of C$74.29 per share implies 36.43% upside potential.
