Brunswick (NYSE:BC) & FST (NASDAQ:KBSX) Financial Analysis

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) and FST (NASDAQ:KBSX) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Brunswick and FST’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brunswick	-1.53%	15.28%	4.60%
FST	-0.90%	1.66%	0.40%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Brunswick and FST”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brunswick	$5.36 billion	1.01	-$137.30 million	($1.31)	-63.86
FST	$52.97 million	0.74	-$1.50 million	($0.01)	-104.40

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Brunswick and FST, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brunswick	1	7	6	1	2.47
FST	1	0	1	0	2.00

Brunswick presently has a consensus target price of $87.57, indicating a potential upside of 4.69%. FST has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 283.14%. Given FST’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FST is more favorable than Brunswick.

Risk & Volatility

Brunswick has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FST has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.3% of Brunswick shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.8% of FST shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Brunswick shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 54.6% of FST shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Brunswick beats FST on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brunswick

Brunswick Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets recreation products in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Propulsion, Engine P&A, Navico Group, and Boat. The Propulsion segment provides outboard, sterndrive, inboard engines, propulsion-related controls, rigging, and propellers for boat builders through marine retail dealers under the Mercury, Mercury MerCruiser, Mariner, Mercury Racing, Mercury Diesel, Avator, and Fliteboard brands. The Engine P&A segment offers engine parts and consumables, electrical products, boat parts and systems, and engine oils and lubricants through aftermarket retailers, dealers, distributors, and original equipment manufacturers for marine and non-marine markets under the Mercury, Mercury Precision Parts, Quicksilver, and Seachoice brands; and distributes marine parts and accessories. The Navico Group segment provides products and systems for the marine, recreational vehicle (RV), specialty vehicle, mobile, and industrial markets, as well as aftermarket channels; and marine electronics, sensors, control systems, instruments, power systems, and general accessories under the Ancor, Attwood, B&G, BEP, Blue Sea Systems, C-MAP, CZone, Lenco, Lowrance, Marinco, Mastervolt, MotorGuide, Progressive Industries, ProMariner, RELiON, Simrad, and Whale brand names. The Boat segment offers Sea Ray sport boats and cruisers; Bayliner sport cruisers, runabouts, and Heyday wake boats; Boston Whaler fiberglass offshore boats; Lund fiberglass fishing boats; Crestliner, Harris, Lowe, Lund, Princecraft aluminum fishing, utility, pontoon, and deck boats; Thunder Jet heavy-gauge aluminum boats; Veer recreational and fishing boats; and the freedom boat club, dealer services, and technology to the marine industry through dealers and distributors. Brunswick Corporation was founded in 1845 and is headquartered in Mettawa, Illinois.

About FST

FST Corp. designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes steel golf shafts to golf club original equipment manufacturers and distributors worldwide. The company offers steel shafts under the KBS brand name. FST Corp.is based in Chiayi, Taiwan.