5 Hot Leisure & Recreation Stocks for a Cool Summer

 | Jul 09, 2020 03:40AM ET

Road trips are not the only way people are enjoying this summer. There are other ways too of getting out of the house and enjoying the good weather.

As it turns out, recreational boats provide much the same advantages as RVs in this environment, because when you’re at sea (or lake), you’re pretty much in your own little island, family and all. And if you’re not into sailing, there are other things to do as well, such as water sports, rowing (preferred by some as a fitness activity) or fishing. This is pretty attractive when you consider that movie halls, gatherings and many other entertainment options are also off limits at the moment.

That’s probably why boat sales have been going through the roof since April-end and some dealers are hard-pressed to supply. As Matt Gruhn, president of the Marine Retailers Association of America (MRAA) says, people have had time to research boats while they’ve been cooped up at home. There appears to be adequate inventory to convert this strong interest into sales, and the product mix is understandably shifting in favor of new entry level boats.

Also note that this was a strong market going into 2020, with the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) predicting 2% growth for the year. This is healthy considering the fact that boat sales reached an 11-year high in 2019 with personal watercraft sales up 6%, sport boats up 6%, cruisers up 3% and high-volume freshwater fishing boats down 7%. This was in addition to the 975,000 pre-owned boats sold (estimates as of Jan 2020, as quoted in businesswire).

Boating suppliers are categorized under the Leisure and Recreation Products industry by Zacks. These stocks have returned 41.4% year to date, so some may be cautious on valuation considerations. But note that we are seeing a special year in terms of demand, so it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine that upward revision to estimates will generate further upside in share prices.

Here are a few boating stocks I like, plus a couple other stocks in this group-

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) Corporation BC

Brunswick Corporation designs, manufactures and sells marine engine products, electronics and control integration systems, steering systems, instruments, controls, propellers, trolling motors, fuel systems, electrical systems, service parts, lubricants and integrated propulsion systems, as well as parts and accessories to recreational, commercial and government customers through dealers and distributors.

It also sells recreational boats like fiberglass pleasure, sport cruisers, sport fishing and centre-console, offshore fishing, aluminium and fiberglass fishing, pontoon, utility, deck, inflatable, and heavy-gauge aluminium under the Bayliner, Heyday, Boston Whaler, Lund, Crestliner, Cypress Cay, Harris, Lowe, Princecraft, and Thunder Jet brands.

Get The News You Want
Read market moving news with a personalized feed of stocks you care about.
Get The App

Zacks Rank #1

EPS expected to decline 31.4% in 2020 (ending December) then jump 42.2% in 2021.

2020 EPS dropped from $3.69 to $2.81 before growing to $2.97 in the last 90 days

2021 EPS dropped from $4.29 to $3.83 before growing back to $4.23 in the last 90 days

There are no downward revisions to these estimates in the last 60 days

Strong surprise history averaging +8.4% in the preceding four quarters

Valuation: The current price to forward 12 months earnings of 17.85X is between the median value of 11.32X and recently-attained annual high of 19.90X. For comparison, the S&P 500 is trading at its annual high.