Analyzing Johnson Outdoors (NASDAQ:JOUT) and Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO)

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

Dividends

Johnson Outdoors pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Academy Sports and Outdoors pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Johnson Outdoors pays out -86.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Academy Sports and Outdoors pays out 10.8% 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. Johnson Outdoors has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years and Academy Sports and Outdoors has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Johnson Outdoors is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Johnson Outdoors has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Academy Sports and Outdoors has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Johnson Outdoors and Academy Sports and Outdoors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Johnson Outdoors	1	1	0	0	1.50
Academy Sports and Outdoors	0	11	6	1	2.44

Academy Sports and Outdoors has a consensus price target of $59.87, indicating a potential upside of 13.99%. Given Academy Sports and Outdoors’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Academy Sports and Outdoors is more favorable than Johnson Outdoors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

64.1% of Johnson Outdoors shares are held by institutional investors. 28.2% of Johnson Outdoors shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Academy Sports and Outdoors shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Johnson Outdoors	-2.33%	2.52%	1.74%
Academy Sports and Outdoors	6.22%	17.88%	7.05%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Johnson Outdoors and Academy Sports and Outdoors”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Johnson Outdoors	$592.41 million	0.77	-$34.29 million	($1.52)	-28.66
Academy Sports and Outdoors	$6.05 billion	0.56	$376.77 million	$5.56	9.45

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

Summary

Academy Sports and Outdoors beats Johnson Outdoors on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Johnson Outdoors

Johnson Outdoors Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets seasonal and outdoor recreational products for fishing worldwide. It operates through four segments: Fishing, Camping, Watercraft Recreation, and Diving. The Fishing segment offers electric motors for trolling, marine battery chargers, and shallow water anchors; sonar and GPS equipment for fish finding, navigation, and marine cartography; and downriggers for controlled-depth fishing. This segment sells its products under the Minn Kota, Humminbird, and Cannon brands through outdoor specialty and Internet retailers, retail store chains, original equipment manufacturers, and distributors. The Camping segment provides consumer, commercial, and military tents and accessories; camping stoves; other recreational camping products; and portable outdoor cooking systems. This segment sells its products under the Eureka! and Jetboil brands through specialty stores, sporting goods stores, internet retailers, and direct to consumers. The Watercraft Recreation segment offers kayaks, canoes, and paddles for family recreation, touring, angling, and tripping through independent specialty and outdoor retailers under Old Town and Carlisle brands. The Diving segment manufactures and markets underwater diving and snorkeling equipment, such as regulators, buoyancy compensators, dive computers and gauges, wetsuits, masks, fins, snorkels, and accessories through independent specialty dive stores and diving magazines under the SCUBAPRO brand name. This segment also provides regular maintenance, product repair, diving education, and travel program services; and sells diving gear to dive training centers, resorts, and public safety units. It sells its products through websites. The company was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin.

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.