Stock Watch

Brunswick Corp: Scoring Strong Sales

The good times are rolling at Brunswick Corp. (BC), one of the largest makers of leisure and recreational products.

In the third quarter, the company, which specializes in boats and marine equipment, bowling, billiards, fitness gear and camping goods, reported a 15% rise in revenues to $1 billion. That's more than twice the sales growth of Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. It has also recently made several acquisitions to bolster its hold on the market, including a coin-operated pool-table company, a marine parts distributor and a boat GPS manufacturer.

In this week's issue of The Outlook, S&P says that the leisure market is "at the beginning of a long-term rise," and it singles out Brunswick as a solid beneficiary. As consumers make more big-ticket purchases, such as Brunswick's high profit-margin boats, sales should continue to be strong throughout next year.

The stock trades at 15 times 2004 consensus earnings estimates of $1.97, according to Thomson First Call. Analysts see profits growing 14% annually for the next few years, which is twice the expectations for the S&P 500. It should also outpace the overall leisure goods and services industry.

--Erin Burt

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