Reviewing Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) and Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU)

Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU) and Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Malibu Boats and Academy Sports and Outdoors”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Malibu Boats	$807.56 million	0.78	$14.88 million	$0.98	33.45
Academy Sports and Outdoors	$5.93 billion	0.61	$418.45 million	$5.47	9.99

Academy Sports and Outdoors has higher revenue and earnings than Malibu Boats. Academy Sports and Outdoors is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Malibu Boats, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.4% of Malibu Boats shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Malibu Boats shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Academy Sports and Outdoors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Malibu Boats and Academy Sports and Outdoors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Malibu Boats	2.31%	5.28%	3.66%
Academy Sports and Outdoors	6.27%	18.24%	7.18%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Malibu Boats and Academy Sports and Outdoors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Malibu Boats	1	7	2	0	2.10
Academy Sports and Outdoors	0	10	10	0	2.50

Malibu Boats presently has a consensus price target of $34.67, suggesting a potential upside of 5.76%. Academy Sports and Outdoors has a consensus price target of $59.61, suggesting a potential upside of 9.14%. Given Academy Sports and Outdoors’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Academy Sports and Outdoors is more favorable than Malibu Boats.

Risk & Volatility

Malibu Boats has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Academy Sports and Outdoors has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Academy Sports and Outdoors beats Malibu Boats on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Malibu Boats

Malibu Boats, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, markets, and sells a range of recreational powerboats. It operates through three segments: Malibu, Saltwater Fishing, and Cobalt. The company provides performance sport boats, and sterndrive and outboard boats under the Malibu, Axis, Pursuit, Maverick, Cobia, Pathfinder, Hewes, and Cobalt brands. Its products are used for a range of recreational boating activities, including water sports, such as water skiing, wakeboarding, and wake surfing; and general recreational boating and fishing. The company sells its products through independent dealers in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, South Africa, and Australia/New Zealand. Malibu Boats, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is based in Loudon, Tennessee.

About Academy Sports and Outdoors

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a sporting goods and outdoor recreational retailer in the United States. The company outdoor division comprises camping products, such as coolers and drinkware, and camping accessories and equipment,; fishing products, including marine equipment and fishing rods, reels, and baits and equipment; and hunting products, which includes firearms, ammunition, archery and archery equipment, camouflage apparel, waders, shooting accessories, gun safes, optics, airguns, and hunting equipment. Its sports and recreation division offers fitness equipment, fitness accessories, and nutrition supplies; team and specialty sports equipment, including baseball, football, basketball, soccer, golf, racket sports, volleyball, backpacks, and sports bags; recreation products, which includes patio furniture, outdoor cooking, trampolines, play sets, watersports, and pet equipment, as well as wheeled goods including bicycles, skateboards, and other ride-on toys; and electronics and watches, as well as front-end products, such as consumables, batteries, etc. The company's apparel division provides outdoor and seasonal apparel, denim, work apparel, graphic t-shirts, and accessories; boys and girls outdoor, and athletic apparel; sporting and fitness apparel; and professional and collegiate team licensed apparel and accessories. Its footwear division offers casual shoes, slippers, seasonal footwear, and socks; work and western boots, shoes, and hunting footwear; boys and girls footwear; athletic footwear, such as running shoes, athletic lifestyle, and training shoes; and team and specialty sports footwear, and slides. The company sells its products under the Academy Sports + Outdoors, Magellan Outdoors, BCG, O'rageous, Game Winner, Outdoor Gourmet, and Freely brand names. Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Katy, Texas.