Contrasting Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU) & Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA)

Malibu Boats (NASDAQ:MBUU) and Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Malibu Boats	1.84%	4.93%	3.42%
Escalade	5.30%	6.86%	5.09%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Malibu Boats and Escalade, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Malibu Boats	2	6	1	0	1.89
Escalade	0	1	0	0	2.00

Malibu Boats presently has a consensus price target of $36.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25.39%. Given Malibu Boats’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Malibu Boats is more favorable than Escalade.

Volatility and Risk

Malibu Boats has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Escalade has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.4% of Malibu Boats shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.2% of Escalade shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Malibu Boats shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 28.8% of Escalade shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Malibu Boats and Escalade”s 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	0.68	$14.88 million	$0.77	37.29
Escalade	$251.51 million	0.63	$12.99 million	$0.91	12.69

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

Summary

Malibu Boats beats Escalade on 8 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 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.