Head-To-Head Contrast: Acushnet (GOLF) versus Its Peers

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) is one of 95 publicly-traded companies in the “Leisure Products” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Acushnet to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Acushnet and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acushnet	0	8	1	0	2.11
Acushnet Competitors	564	2388	3812	188	2.52

Acushnet currently has a consensus price target of $97.67, indicating a potential upside of 16.74%. As a group, “Leisure Products” companies have a potential upside of 27.35%. Given Acushnet’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Acushnet has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk and Volatility

Acushnet has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acushnet’s peers have a beta of 1.20, indicating that their average stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Acushnet pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Acushnet pays out 27.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Leisure Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 55.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Acushnet has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Acushnet and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acushnet	8.17%	27.92%	9.43%
Acushnet Competitors	-8.21%	-18.19%	-3.85%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

53.1% of Acushnet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.3% of shares of all “Leisure Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 53.3% of Acushnet shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “Leisure Products” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Acushnet and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acushnet	$2.56 billion	$188.54 million	22.67
Acushnet Competitors	$3.02 billion	$72.16 million	574.57

Acushnet’s peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Acushnet. Acushnet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Acushnet peers beat Acushnet on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Acushnet

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear. It offers golf balls under the Titleist brand; golf clubs, such as drivers, fairways, hybrids, and irons under the Titleist brand; wedges under the Vokey Design brand; and putters under the Scotty Cameron brand. The company also provides golf bags, headwear, golf gloves, travel products, and other golf accessories. In addition, it offers golf shoes, gloves, golf outerwear, and men’s and women’s golf apparel under the FootJoy brand; and ski, golf, and lifestyle apparel under the KJUS brand name. It sells its products through on-course golf shops and golf specialty retailers, as well as through representatives, other retailers, and online. The company was formerly known as Alexandria Holdings Corp. and changed its name to Acushnet Holdings Corp. in March 2016. Acushnet Holdings Corp. was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.