Harley-Davidson is the parent company of the group of companies referred to as Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Co. operates in two segments: Motorcycles and Related Products (Motorcycles) and Financial Services. The Motorcycles segment consists of the activities of Harley-Davidson Motor Company, which designs, manufactures and sells motorcycles. The Financial Services segment consists of the activities of Harley-Davidson Financial Services which is engaged in the business of financing and servicing wholesale inventory receivables and retail consumer loans, primarily for the purchase of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
When researching a stock like Harley-Davidson, many investors are the most familiar with Fundamental Analysis — looking at a company's balance sheet, earnings, revenues, and what's happening in that company's underlying business. Investors who use Fundamental Analysis to identify good stocks to buy or sell can also benefit from HOG Technical Analysis to help find a good entry or exit point. Technical Analysis is blind to the fundamentals and looks only at the trading data for HOG stock — the real life supply and demand for the stock over time — and examines that data in different ways. One of those ways is to calculate a Simpe Moving Average ("SMA") by looking back a certain number of days. One of the most popular "longer look-backs" is the HOG 200 day moving average ("HOG 200 DMA"), while one of the most popular "shorter look-backs" is the HOG 50 day moving average ("HOG 50 DMA"). A chart showing both of these popular moving averages is shown on this page for Harley-Davidson. Comparing two moving averages against each other can be a useful visualization tool: by calculating the difference between the HOG 200 DMA and the HOG 50 DMA, we get a moving average convergence divergence indicator ("HOG MACD"). The HOG MACD chart, in conjunction with the chart of the moving averages, basically helps in visualizing how the moving averages are showing convergence (moving closer together), or divergence (moving farther apart). |