Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) versus Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) Critical Comparison

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) and Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Pool and Academy Sports and Outdoors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pool	1	6	4	1	2.42
Academy Sports and Outdoors	0	10	10	0	2.50

Pool currently has a consensus price target of $308.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.16%. Academy Sports and Outdoors has a consensus price target of $59.89, suggesting a potential upside of 8.63%. Given Pool’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Pool is more favorable than Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Dividends

Pool pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Academy Sports and Outdoors pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Pool pays out 45.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Academy Sports and Outdoors pays out 9.5% 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. Pool has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Academy Sports and Outdoors has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Pool is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pool and Academy Sports and Outdoors”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pool	$5.31 billion	1.81	$434.33 million	$10.97	23.56
Academy Sports and Outdoors	$5.93 billion	0.62	$418.45 million	$5.47	10.08

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pool	7.77%	31.40%	11.43%
Academy Sports and Outdoors	6.27%	18.24%	7.18%

Risk & Volatility

Pool has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Academy Sports and Outdoors has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.0% of Pool shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Pool 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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

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

About Pool

Pool Corporation distributes swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products in the United States and internationally. The company offers maintenance products, including chemicals, supplies, and pool accessories; repair and replacement parts for pool equipment, such as cleaners, filters, heaters, pumps, and lights; and building materials, such as concrete, plumbing and electrical components, functional and decorative pool surfaces, decking materials, tiles, hardscapes, and natural stones for pool installations and remodeling. It also provides pool equipment and components for new pool construction and the remodeling of existing pools; irrigation and related products, such as irrigation system components, and professional turf care equipment and supplies; commercial products, including heaters, safety equipment, commercial decking equipment, and commercial pumps and filters. In addition, the company offers fiberglass pools, and hot tubs and packaged pool kits comprising walls, liners, braces, and coping for in-ground and above-ground pools; and other pool construction and recreational products comprising discretionary recreational and related outdoor living products, such as grills and components for outdoor kitchens. It serves swimming pool remodelers and builders; specialty retailers that sell swimming pool supplies; swimming pool repair and service businesses; irrigation construction and landscape maintenance contractors; and commercial pool operators and pool contractors. Pool Corporation was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Covington, Louisiana.

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.