CALY vs GOLF: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CALY and GOLF share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CALY and GOLF exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Callaway Golf Company designs and sells golf equipment and golf-adjacent soft goods, and it reports in two segments. Golf Equipment covers Callaway-branded drivers, woods, hybrids, irons and wedges, Odyssey putters, Callaway golf balls and the pre-owned club business, and generated about $917 million of net sales in the first half of 2026, up roughly 7% year over year. Apparel, Gear and Other covers TravisMathew golf and lifestyle apparel, the Callaway soft goods line and OGIO bags and storage, adding about $383 million over the same period. Roughly 70% of revenue therefore comes from hardgoods sold into golf retail, on-course pro shops and direct channels, which makes retailer inventory levels and new product cycles unusually visible drivers of any given quarter.

Full CALY guide

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs and sells golf equipment and golf wear under Titleist, FootJoy, Scotty Cameron, Vokey Design, KJUS and Club Glove. It reports in four product lines: Titleist golf balls, Titleist golf clubs, Titleist golf gear (bags, gloves, headwear) and FootJoy golf wear (shoes, gloves, apparel). The Pro V1 and Pro V1x are the best-selling balls in the sport and anchor the company's position at the committed, fitted end of the market. That focus is deliberate: Acushnet sells mostly through green-grass golf shops, off-course specialty retail and fitting channels rather than mass merchants, which supports pricing and keeps gross margins in the low-to-mid 50s.

Full GOLF guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CALY drivers: Gross margin expansion is doing the heavy lifting; A balance sheet that went from levered to roughly net cash.
• GOLF drivers: The Pro V1 franchise and ball economics; The club launch cycle and the GTS metals ramp.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: 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. For GOLF, the largest non-operational risk is the ownership structure: Magnus Holdings, wholly owned by the Korean group formerly called Fila Holdings and now Misto Holdings, holds a majority of the shares, and a Delaware Court of Chancery complaint unsealed in May 2025 alleges the board calibrated more than $750 million of repurchases so the controller's stake stayed just above 50% while it sold roughly 7 million shares.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CALY if you believe its drivers more; GOLF if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CALY and GOLF guides.

CALY. With enterprise value close to market cap, CALY trades near 1.4 times trailing sales and roughly 11 times EV/EBITDA, which is a mid-single-digit-growth consumer-brand multiple rather than a distressed one. Trailing GAAP net income is still negative because it carries the loss recognized on the Topgolf sale in discontinued operations, so continuing-operations figures are the cleaner read: diluted EPS from continuing operations was about $0.40 in the second quarter and about $0.78 in the first half. Shares were near $17 in early August 2026 after roughly doubling over the prior year, meaning a good deal of the margin-expansion story is already reflected in the price.

GOLF. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; check live numbers before acting. With net leverage around 2.0x at mid-year, enterprise value works out to roughly 13 times the midpoint of guided full-year adjusted EBITDA, which is a premium to most sporting-goods peers and reflects the pricing power of the Titleist ball franchise. The trailing multiple flatters the picture somewhat because the first half absorbed both an accelerated club launch and tariff refunds, so the second half faces harder comparisons on both.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): CALY shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.1B (continuing operations), q2 2026 net sales ~$612M, +2.0% YoY, q2 2026 adjusted ebitda ~$125M, +35.8% YoY, fy2026 guidance net sales ~$2.045B to ~$2.070B; adjusted EBITDA ~$246M to ~$260M; GOLF shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.71 billion, q2 2026 net sales ~$820 million, up ~13.8% year over year, q2 2026 diluted eps ~$2.08 (net income ~$125 million), gross margin (q2 2026) ~54.4%, up ~520 basis points.

CALY and GOLF are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CALY and GOLF exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.