Head to Head Comparison: Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) vs. American Outdoor Brands (NASDAQ:AOUT)

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

Volatility and Risk

American Outdoor Brands has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Academy Sports and Outdoors has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares American Outdoor Brands 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
American Outdoor Brands	$222.32 million	0.53	-$80,000.00	($0.78)	-11.89
Academy Sports and Outdoors	$6.05 billion	0.62	$376.77 million	$5.56	10.44

Academy Sports and Outdoors has higher revenue and earnings than American Outdoor Brands. American Outdoor Brands 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Outdoor Brands	-4.78%	0.62%	0.44%
Academy Sports and Outdoors	6.22%	17.88%	7.05%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.9% of American Outdoor Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of American Outdoor Brands shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Academy Sports and Outdoors shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for American Outdoor Brands and Academy Sports and Outdoors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Outdoor Brands	2	0	2	0	2.00
Academy Sports and Outdoors	0	11	6	0	2.35

American Outdoor Brands presently has a consensus target price of $12.50, indicating a potential upside of 34.77%. Academy Sports and Outdoors has a consensus target price of $58.43, indicating a potential upside of 0.63%. Given American Outdoor Brands’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe American Outdoor Brands is more favorable than Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Summary

Academy Sports and Outdoors beats American Outdoor Brands on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Outdoor Brands

American Outdoor Brands, Inc. provides outdoor products and accessories for rugged outdoor enthusiasts in the United States and internationally. It offers hunting, fishing, camping, shooting, and personal security and defense products. The company also provides shooting sports accessories products include rests, vaults, and other related accessories; outdoor lifestyle products, such as premium sportsmen knives and tools for fishing and hunting; land management tools for hunting preparedness; harvesting products for post-hunt or post-fishing activities; outdoor cooking products; and camping, survival, and emergency preparedness products. In addition, it offers electro-optical devices, including hunting optics, firearm aiming devices, flashlights, and laser grips; and reloading, gunsmithing, and firearm cleaning supplies. The company sells its products through e-commerce and traditional distribution channels under the Adventurer, Harvester, Marksman, and Defender brand lanes. American Outdoor Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Columbia, Missouri.

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.