Reviewing Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) & Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA)

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) and Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

65.2% of Escalade shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Hasbro shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.1% of Escalade shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Hasbro shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Escalade and Hasbro, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Escalade	0	0	1	1	3.50
Hasbro	0	4	12	0	2.75

Hasbro has a consensus price target of $109.43, suggesting a potential upside of 18.26%. Given Hasbro’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hasbro is more favorable than Escalade.

Profitability

This table compares Escalade and Hasbro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Escalade	9.46%	13.11%	10.07%
Hasbro	15.97%	141.11%	14.72%

Dividends

Escalade pays an annual dividend of $0.61 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hasbro pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Escalade pays out 36.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hasbro pays out 50.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Escalade and Hasbro”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Escalade	$240.16 million	1.20	$13.70 million	$1.67	12.50
Hasbro	$4.70 billion	2.78	-$322.40 million	$5.56	16.64

Escalade has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hasbro. Escalade is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hasbro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Escalade has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hasbro has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hasbro beats Escalade on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Escalade

Escalade, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, imports, and sells sporting goods in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company provides various sporting goods brands in basketball goals, archery, indoor and outdoor game recreation, and fitness products. It offers archery products under the Bear Archery, Trophy Ridge, Whisker Biscuit, Cajun Bowfishing, Karnage, SIK, BearX, and Bear Traditional brand names; table tennis products under the STIGA and Ping-Pong brands; basketball goals under the Goalrilla, Goaliath, Silverback, Hoopstar, and Goalsetter brand names; and pickleball under the Onix, DURA, and Pickleball Now brands. The company also provides play systems under the Woodplay, Jack & June, and Childlife brands; fitness products under the STEP, Lifeline, Kettleworx, Natural Fitness, USW, and PER4M brand names; safety products under the USWeight brand; hockey and soccer game tables under the Triumph Sports, Atomic, American Legend, Air Hockey, and HJ Scott brands; and billiard tables and accessories under the American Heritage Billiards, Brunswick Billiards, Gold Crown, Centennial, Cue&Case, Lucasi, Mizerak, PureX, Rage, Players, Minnesota Fats, and Mosconi brand names. In addition, it offers darting products under the Unicorn, Winmau, DMI, Prodigy, Arachnid, Accudart, and Nodor brands; water sports products under the RAVE Sports brand; and outdoor game products under the Victory Tailgate, Triumph Sports, ACL, and Zume Games brand names. The company provides its products through sporting goods retailers, specialty dealers, online retailers, direct-to-consumer, e-commerce, traditional department stores, and mass merchants. Escalade, Incorporated was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments. The Consumer Products segment engages in the sourcing, marketing, and sale of toy and game products. This segment also promotes its brands through the out-licensing of trademarks, characters, and other brand and intellectual property rights to third parties through the sale of branded consumer products, such as toys and apparel. Its toys and games include action figures, arts and crafts and creative play products, dolls, play sets, preschool toys, plush products, sports action blasters and accessories, vehicles and toy-related specialty products, games, and other consumer products; and licensed products, such as apparel, publishing products, home goods and electronics, and toy products. The Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment engages in the promotion of its brands through the development of trading cards, role-playing, and digital game experiences based on Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast games. The Entertainment segment engages in the development, production, and sale of entertainment content, including film, television, children's programming, digital content, and live entertainment. The company sells its products to retailers, distributors, wholesalers, discount stores, specialty hobby stores, drug stores, mail order houses, catalog stores, department stores, and other traditional retailers, as well as e-commerce retailers; and directly to customers through its e-commerce websites under the MAGIC: THE GATHERING, Hasbro Gaming, PLAY-DOH, NERF, TRANSFORMERS, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, PEPPA PIG, and other brand names. Hasbro, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.