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what it is
Escalade sells sports and recreation gear like basketball hoops, archery gear, pickleball equipment, table tennis tables, and fitness products.
how it gets paid
Last year Escalade made $240M in revenue. basketball systems was the main engine at $84.0M, or 35% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 4.5% last year. $0.93 full-year EPS matters most because the stock at $13.04 trades around 14 times that earnings base.
what just happened
Escalade's clearest recent earnings fact is $0.40 EPS in Q3 2024, up from $0.31 a year earlier, while full-year revenue still slipped to $240 million.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
45/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
14.3x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
3.5% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
7.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 46/100 — below average
What they do
Escalade sells sports and recreation gear like basketball hoops, archery gear, pickleball equipment, table tennis tables, and fitness products.
This is a brand-and-shelf-space business. You are not buying a patent fortress. You are buying a 102-year-old company, founded in 1922, that already sits inside major sporting goods retailers, specialty dealers, online sellers, department stores, and mass merchants. That reach matters because replacement purchases happen where your customer already shops, and Escalade does it with just $14 million of long-term debt, or 6% of capital.
How they make money
$240M
annual revenue · their business grew -4.5% last year
basketball systems
$84.0M
archery
$48.0M
table tennis and indoor games
$43.2M
pickleball and recreation
$33.6M
fitness playsets and billiards
$31.2M
The products that matter
basketball equipment maker
Basketball Goals
part of a $240M portfolio
this category sits inside a $240.2M revenue base. the snapshot does not break out category sales, which is the point: you are underwriting the whole portfolio, not one breakout product.
core category
archery gear seller
Archery Equipment
Q4 sales pressure visible
archery is one of the specialty categories inside a quarter where company sales fell 2.2% to $62.6M. niche demand helps, but it does not spare you when the consumer slows down.
specialty demand
indoor games business
Game Tables
26.2% gross margin
these products live inside a business earning a 26.2% gross margin and a 5.3% net margin. you stay profitable at that level. you do not have much cushion for a long slump.
margin matters
Key numbers
14.3x
trailing p/e
You are paying 14.3 times trailing earnings for a company with 0.5% historical earnings growth, which is cheap only if profits hold.
$0.93
2024 eps
That is the full-year earnings power lists for 2024, and it is the number carrying the valuation math.
8.8%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: Escalade has some cushion, but not enough to absorb repeated sales misses comfortably.
3.5%
dividend yield
You are being paid 3.5% to wait, which matters more when the stock story is steady income, not fast growth.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 45 / 100
- long-term debt $14M (6% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for ESCA right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
beat estimates
Escalade's clearest recent earnings fact is $0.40 EPS in Q3 2024, up from $0.31 a year earlier, while full-year revenue still slipped to $240 million.
Quarterly EPS improved from $0.31 to $0.40 in the 2024 third quarter, and full-year EPS reached $0.93, matching Value Line's 2024 estimate. The quiet part out loud: profits got better faster than sales, because annual revenue still declined 4.5% to $240 million.
$240M
revenue
$0.40
eps
8.8%
operating margin
the number that mattered
$0.93 full-year EPS matters most because the stock at $13.04 trades around 14 times that earnings base, so any slip changes the whole case.
source: and SEC filing data, 2024
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is another year of shrinking demand across basketball, archery, and indoor recreation products.
high
sales keep shrinking
full-year sales fell 4.5% to $240.2M, and q4 sales fell 2.2% to $62.6M. if that slide continues, margin work stops looking like improvement and starts looking like defense.
this pressure touches the full $240.2M revenue base.
med
margin gains reverse
gross margin improved to 26.2%, and that did the heavy lifting in the quarter. if promotions rise or product mix worsens, earnings lose their cushion fast.
with only a 5.3% net margin, a small giveback hits harder than it would at a higher-quality business.
med
the dividend gets less comfortable
the stock yields 3.5%, which helps hold attention. it is still funded by a business earning five cents on each sales dollar. that works better in a steady business than in a shrinking one.
another earnings step down would push the payout from income story to balance-sheet test.
low
leadership transition burns time
patrick j. griffin becomes ceo effective march 5, 2026. the risk is not the title change. the risk is losing quarters while the top line still needs fixing.
for a $235M company, time is a bigger asset than slide decks.
if revenue stays around $240.2M instead of moving toward the $252M estimate, ESCA has to defend a 26.2% gross margin and a 3.5% yield with very little slack.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
revenue has to turn positive
the business just posted a 4.5% full-year sales decline. one clean quarter of sales growth would matter more than another quarter of cost cutting.
calendar
the next earnings release
the next print should tell you whether q4 was the start of stabilization or just a margin-led pause in a weak demand cycle.
risk
gross margin giveback
26.2% gross margin was the bright spot. if that slips while revenue is still soft, the thesis weakens fast.
trend
the first real read on the new ceo
patrick griffin's early quarters matter because this is not a business with momentum to hide behind. you want evidence of demand repair, not just tidier expense control.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
45 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not view this as a smooth earnings story. you should expect bumps.
balance sheet grade
B
that means the finances are serviceable. you are not looking at distress, but you are not getting fortress-level protection either.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for ESCA is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$13
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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