Head to Head Comparison: Sturm, Ruger & (RGR) vs. Acushnet Holdings Corp. (GOLF)

Sturm, Ruger & (NYSE: RGR) and Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.9% of Sturm, Ruger & shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.2% of Acushnet Holdings Corp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of Sturm, Ruger & shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 54.0% of Acushnet Holdings Corp. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sturm, Ruger & and Acushnet Holdings Corp.’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sturm, Ruger &	$622.49 million	1.38	$149.13 million	$3.92	12.40
Acushnet Holdings Corp.	$1.53 billion	0.81	$174.85 million	$0.53	31.26

Acushnet Holdings Corp. has higher revenue and earnings than Sturm, Ruger &. Sturm, Ruger & is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acushnet Holdings Corp., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Sturm, Ruger & pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Acushnet Holdings Corp. pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sturm, Ruger & pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acushnet Holdings Corp. pays out 90.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Sturm, Ruger & and Acushnet Holdings Corp., as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sturm, Ruger &	0	2	1	0	2.33
Acushnet Holdings Corp.	0	8	6	0	2.43

Sturm, Ruger & currently has a consensus target price of $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.34%. Acushnet Holdings Corp. has a consensus target price of $21.61, indicating a potential upside of 30.42%. Given Acushnet Holdings Corp.’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Acushnet Holdings Corp. is more favorable than Sturm, Ruger &.

Profitability

This table compares Sturm, Ruger & and Acushnet Holdings Corp.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sturm, Ruger &	11.74%	29.70%	22.42%
Acushnet Holdings Corp.	4.25%	10.27%	3.91%

Summary

Acushnet Holdings Corp. beats Sturm, Ruger & on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sturm, Ruger &

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. is engaged in the design, manufacture, and sale of firearms to domestic customers. The Company operates through two segments: firearms and castings. The firearms segment manufactures and sells rifles, pistols, and revolvers principally to a range of federally licensed, independent wholesale distributors primarily located in the United States. The castings segment manufactures and sells steel investment castings and metal injection molding (MIM) parts. The Company’s design and manufacturing operations are located in the United States. The Company primarily offers products in three industry product categories: rifles, pistols, and revolvers. The Company’s firearms are sold through independent wholesale distributors, principally to the commercial sporting market. The Company manufactures firearm products under the Ruger name. The Company also manufactures and sells accessories and replacement parts for its firearms.

About Acushnet Holdings Corp.

Acushnet Holdings Corp. is engaged in the design, development, manufacture and distribution of golf products. The Company is engaged in various product categories, such as golf clubs, wedges, putters, golf gloves, golf gear and golf wear. The Company operates in four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear and FootJoy Golf Wear. The company’s Titleist golf ball segment is engaged in designing and manufacturing a golf ball. It sells Titleist Pro V1. The Company also designs, manufactures and sells other golf balls under the Titleist brand, such as NXT Tour, Velocity and DT TruSoft, as well as under the Pinnacle brand. The Company designs, assembles and sells golf clubs (drivers, fairways, hybrids and irons) under the Titleist brand, wedges under the Vokey Design brand, and putters under the Scotty Cameron brand. Titleist golf clubs, Vokey Design wedges and Scotty Cameron putters are used by the players.