Is CALY a Buy or a Sell? The Bull and Bear Case (2026)

That depends on which case you find more convincing, and both are on this page. The bull case rests on Gross margin expansion is doing the heavy lifting, with revenue (ttm) at ~$2.1B (continuing operations). The bear case rests on golf is discretionary spending, and equipment purchases are among the first things a pressured consumer defers, so a weaker macro backdrop, a soft weather year or a slowdown in rounds played would hit revenue directly. Analysts covering it are spread from $19.00 to $23.00, which is itself a signal that this is genuinely contested. If you believe the thesis, the real questions become sizing and overlap rather than timing. Walnut is not an investment adviser and this is not a recommendation.

Nobody can answer that for you, and the honest version of the question is narrower: has anything changed in the reason you bought it? The bear case on this page is the place to check. Golf is discretionary spending, and equipment purchases are among the first things a pressured consumer defers, so a weaker macro backdrop, a soft weather year or a slowdown in rounds played would hit revenue directly. If that risk is what you were worried about and it is now playing out, that is a real signal. If the price simply fell while the thesis held, that is a different situation entirely. The most pessimistic published target is $19.00, +11.4% from the $17.05 price, which is one analyst's downside case rather than a floor. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Gross margin expansion is doing the heavy lifting. Second-quarter 2026 GAAP gross margin reached about 50.1%, up roughly 620 basis points year over year, with the non-GAAP figure at about 48.5% and up about 460 basis points. The most optimistic analyst target on CALY is $23.00, +34.9% from the $17.05 price. That figure is only reachable if this thesis works close to its best case.

Golf is discretionary spending, and equipment purchases are among the first things a pressured consumer defers, so a weaker macro backdrop, a soft weather year or a slowdown in rounds played would hit revenue directly. Supply chains run through Asia, which leaves the cost base exposed to import tariffs, retaliatory measures and currency moves; the roughly $49.5 million of filed tariff refund claims are gain contingencies subject to ongoing legal and administrative proceedings, and additional recoveries are not assured. The retained 39.3% interest in Topgolf is an illiquid, non-controlling stake that flows through the income statement, and it produced a loss from equity method investments of about $28.7 million in the first half of 2026. Competition is intense against Acushnet, Sumitomo Rubber, PING, PXG and others, and heavy promotional activity at retail can erode the very gross margin gains that drive current results. On disclosed legal matters, the Q2 2026 Form 10-Q describes only routine claims, commercial disputes, employment matters and periodic intellectual property claims, states that such matters have historically not been material, and reports about $3.4 million of recorded indemnities tied to the Topgolf and Jack Wolfskin divestitures; no securities class action or other non-routine proceeding is disclosed. The most pessimistic published target is $19.00, +11.4% from the current price, which is roughly what the stock is worth if these risks bite rather than the drivers.

Callaway Golf designs and sells golf equipment and golf-adjacent soft goods, having reverted to its original name after selling most of Topgolf.

Decide that in advance, because it is far harder to think clearly once a position is moving against you. The concrete tripwires here: the driver behind the bull case (Gross margin expansion is doing the heavy lifting) stalling in the reported numbers rather than in the narrative, the risk above (golf is discretionary spending, and equipment purchases are among the first things a pressured consumer defers, so a weaker macro backdrop, a soft weather year or a slowdown in rounds played would hit revenue directly) turning from a possibility into a reported fact, or the position growing large enough that a bad outcome would matter to your whole portfolio regardless of who is right.

Callaway Golf Company, listed on the NYSE and headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the same SEC registrant that previously filed as Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. under the ticker MODG, with SEC filings still under CIK 837465.

After selling a 60% interest in Topgolf and Toptracer effective January 1, 2026 and selling Jack Wolfskin in May 2025, the remaining business was golf equipment and golf apparel, so the conglomerate name no longer described it. Management reverted to the Callaway Golf Company name and moved the NYSE ticker from MODG to CALY, describing the result as a return to a pure-play golf company.

Yes. Callaway retained a 39.3% non-controlling equity interest in Topgolf after selling 60% to private equity funds managed by Leonard Green & Partners at an equity value of about $1.1 billion. The stake is carried at roughly $214 million under the equity method and produced a loss from equity method investments of about $28.7 million in the first half of 2026.