Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plenty of professional analysts wake to express new opinions on stocks. Here at the Fool, we use our “This Just In” column to examine some of these picks– and the track records of the companies behind them — so individuals can make better investing decisions.
Besides following professional banks, anyone can use Motley Fool CAPS to scout the collective opinions of the 140,000 members, many of whom are proving to have better investing ideas than published analysts do.
More top-performing CAPS members are feeling bullish about Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) these days — the stock started the year at a lowly two middle rank in CAPS and has worked its way up to a more amazing four stars recently. A total of 239 members have given their opinion on the golf club maker, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.
The troubled economy is squeezing even discount retailers like Costco (Nasdaq: COST) and Target (NYSE: TGT) hard, but many CAPS members believe that the premium Callaway brand of golf equipment will outlast the downturn. Many investors see it as a lasting brand like Nike (NYSE: NKE) or Under Armour (NYSE: UA) — one that crosses categories well — rather than a waving brand such as Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX).
However reporting falling revenue during its recent quarter, Callaway was able to gain market share in almost all of its categories and go on to focus on long-term growth. It’s made investments for international expansion as it sees chances overseas and is seeing strong demand from the uPlay acquisition it made at the end of 2008. The acquisition makes Callaway in the crowded golf handheld GPS device market besides Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN), but the uPlay device is claimed to be the only GPS that shows final aerial imagery.
Callaway’s market share gains have several analysts bullish on the stock too, as they see upside potential on margin improvement in its high-margin categories. CAPS members also like the absence of long-term debt on its balance sheet and shares that are selling for far smaller than book value.
NIKE’s large market share is the example for Callaway to follow, for this company, there is a long way to go. And NIKE’s power of lastly increasing is always the astonishing news for the recession. It makes the economy more dynamic.
