Latham Group (NASDAQ:SWIM) vs. FST (NASDAQ:KBSX) Head-To-Head Review

FST (NASDAQ:KBSX) and Latham Group (NASDAQ:SWIM) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares FST and Latham Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FST	$47.97 million	0.79	-$1.50 million	($0.01)	-99.94
Latham Group	$545.91 million	1.48	$11.12 million	$0.05	137.60

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

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FST	1	0	1	0	2.00
Latham Group	3	2	2	0	1.86

FST presently has a consensus target price of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 300.24%. Latham Group has a consensus target price of $7.83, suggesting a potential upside of 13.86%. Given FST’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe FST is more favorable than Latham Group.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FST	-0.90%	1.66%	0.40%
Latham Group	0.92%	1.31%	0.63%

Risk and Volatility

FST has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Latham Group has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

50.9% of FST shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Latham Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 54.6% of FST shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Latham Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Latham Group beats FST on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Latham Group

Latham Group, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets in-ground residential swimming pools in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It offers a portfolio of pools and related products, including in-ground swimming pools that include fiber glass and packaged pools; and pool covers and liners under the Latham, Narellan, CoverStar, Radiant, and GLI brand names. The company was formerly known as Latham Topco, Inc. and changed its name to Latham Group, Inc. in March 2021. Latham Group, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.