Golf equipment and apparel company Acushnet (NYSE: GOLF) reported Q3 CY2025 results topping the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 6% year on year to $657.7 million. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $2.53 billion at the midpoint came in 0.6% above analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $0.81 per share was 5.1% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Acushnet (GOLF) Q3 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $657.7 million vs analyst estimates of $633.4 million (6% year-on-year growth, 3.8% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $0.81 vs analyst expectations of $0.85 (5.1% miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $118.6 million vs analyst estimates of $100.8 million (18% margin, 17.6% beat)
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $410 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $398.6 million
- Operating Margin: 14.1%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 20.8%, similar to the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $4.42 billion
Company Overview
Producer of the acclaimed Titleist Pro V1 golf ball, Acushnet (NYSE: GOLF) is a design and manufacturing company specializing in performance-driven golf products.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Over the last five years, Acushnet grew its sales at a 10.1% compounded annual growth rate. Although this growth is acceptable on an absolute basis, it fell short of our standards for the consumer discretionary sector, which enjoys a number of secular tailwinds.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within consumer discretionary, product cycles are short and revenue can be hit-driven due to rapidly changing trends and consumer preferences. Acushnet’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 2.3% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. 
We can dig further into the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its three most important segments: Titleist Balls, Titleist Clubs, and FootJoy, which are 30.8%, 34.2%, and 20.8% of revenue. Over the last two years, Acushnet’s Titleist Balls (golf balls) and Titleist Clubs (golf clubs) revenues averaged year-on-year growth of 4% and 4.9% while its FootJoy revenue (apparel) averaged 3.6% declines. 
This quarter, Acushnet reported year-on-year revenue growth of 6%, and its $657.7 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.8%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to remain flat over the next 12 months. This projection is underwhelming and suggests its products and services will face some demand challenges.
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Operating Margin
Operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income - the bottom line - excluding the impact of taxes and interest on debt, which are less connected to business fundamentals.
Acushnet’s operating margin might fluctuated slightly over the last 12 months but has generally stayed the same, averaging 12.1% over the last two years. This profitability was higher than the broader consumer discretionary sector, showing it did a decent job managing its expenses.
In Q3, Acushnet generated an operating margin profit margin of 14.1%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Acushnet’s EPS grew at a spectacular 24.4% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 10.1% annualized revenue growth. However, this alone doesn’t tell us much about its business quality because its operating margin didn’t improve.
In Q3, Acushnet reported EPS of $0.81, down from $0.89 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates, but we care more about long-term EPS growth than short-term movements. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Acushnet’s full-year EPS of $3.66 to shrink by 9.3%.
Key Takeaways from Acushnet’s Q3 Results
We enjoyed seeing Acushnet beat analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its EPS missed. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock traded up 3% to $77.63 immediately after reporting.
Acushnet had an encouraging quarter, but one earnings result doesn’t necessarily make the stock a buy. Let’s see if this is a good investment. What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.
