It’s possible the world has never been penned in as long as we have. For about two years, people have hardly been able to leave their homes. For this reason, it is no exaggeration to say that this could be the busiest summer in recent history. In the coming months, there’s likely to be a huge increase in spending on things like travel, desserts, and camping. It’s just one reason why camping stocks could be in for a huge summer.
Camping is an interesting investment category. It’s still quite niche, but nestled between two much larger categories: retail and travel. When campers are preparing for a trip, chances are they’ll be visiting retailers like Walmart and Amazon. However, Walmart and Amazon are huge conglomerates. It’s not entirely accurate to classify these two as camping stocks. Fortunately, there are three other companies in particular that are much more camping-related. Let’s take a look.
The best camping stocks to invest in
#3 Camping World Holdings Inc (NYSE:CWH)
With a name like Camping World, it’s no surprise that this RV retailer is one of the top camping stocks. In case you don’t know, Camping World Holdings is America’s largest RV retailer. It sells RVs, camping gear used in and around RVs and RV maintenance. In total, CWH has over 185 locations in the USA
Camping World Holdings went public in 2016 and has seen increasing earnings every year since. In 2021, it reported record annual profits of $278 million and sales of $6.9 billion. That revenue is about double what it was in 2016. CHW also recently increased its dividend by 25% from $2 per year to $2.5 per year. This is another sign that business is good.
Additionally, CWH will be helmed by TV personality Marcus Lemonis. Lemonis is best known for CNBC’s The Profit, in which he helps rescue small businesses.
#2 Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS)
Aside from Walmart and Amazon, Dick’s Sporting Goods is one of the best places for campers to stock up on supplies. What sets Dick’s apart as one of the top camping companies is their specialization in sportswear and gear. This gives him more attention when it comes to stocking up on things like tents, lanterns or new hiking boots.
Dick’s also survived the “retail apocalypse” impressively. A staggering number of retailers have gone out of business in the last decade. Specifically, 136 retailers have filed for bankruptcy since 2015. This is partly due to Amazon and the popularity of e-commerce. But while other retailers are going bust, Dick’s stock has soared 95% over the past five years. This is partly because Dick’s has mastered the omnichannel experience.
Omnichannel means that customers can buy products both in-store and online. Customers can also use the two interchangeably. For example, a customer might buy a product online and then return it to their local store. Or they could go to a store to try on a product and then order it online. That might sound like a small benefit, but it’s all about making the buying process as easy as possible for consumers. The easier it is to buy products, the more likely consumers are to make a purchase.
By offering a great shopping experience, Dick’s actually has a small advantage over Amazon. Dicks reported FY2022 annual revenue of $12.29 billion, up 28% YoY. It also reported net income of $1.52 billion, up 186% year over year.
Camping Stocks No. 1 Yeti Holdings (NYSE:YETI)
This list of camping items is rounded off by the high-quality Yeti cool box. I recently wrote about Yeti as a top under-the-radar stock earlier in the year. My reflection is that Yeti is actually much more than just a high-quality cool box. Yeti is evolving into a full-fledged lifestyle brand.
Yeti’s future growth will likely be built around one thing: its brand. Yeti has managed to position itself as the market leader for cool boxes. Even people who don’t own a cool box probably still know Yeti Coolers. Now Yeti just needs to apply this to other products. In a way, it’s not much different than Nike in its early days.
In the beginning, Nike only sold running shoes. But it had a very good reputation for quality products. As his business grew, it simply expanded into other categories to become the behemoth it is today. Nike was able to grow from the strength of its brand.
Yeti is just beginning to expand into other categories and already offers drinkware, backpacks, apparel and more. But to make this expansion successful, Yeti needs to expand its customer base.
Here’s how it does it…
build communities
In order to expand, Nike only had to develop products for different sports. It’s a relatively easy jump from running shoe design to basketball, baseball, and soccer shoe design. Yeti actually follows a similar strategy. But instead of sports, it’s expanding to other outdoor activities.
This camping inventory currently has 13 different communities to target. These “communities” are things like fishing, hunting, BBQ, skiing, skateboarding, surfing, hiking, etc. This style of branding is much more purposeful than Yeti being just an “outdoor” brand. To reach these communities, it has an ambassador network of 157 social media influencers.
Granted, his Instagram following is still 4th in the industry behind The North Face, Patagonia, and Lululemon. So far, however, Yeti seems to be headed in the right direction.
Yeti reported annual sales of $1.41 billion for fiscal 2022, up 29% year over year. It also reported net income of $212.6 million, up 36% year over year. It’s also buying back $100 million worth of stock. This is a sign that business is doing well. For these reasons, Yeti could be one of the best camping stocks to invest in.
I hope you have found this article on camping supplies valuable! Please remember that I am not a financial advisor and only offer my own research and commentary. As usual, please base all investment decisions on your own due diligence.
A graduate of the University of Miami, Teddy studied marketing and finance while playing on the soccer team for four years. He has always had a passion for business and has used his experience from a few personal projects to become one of the top rated business writers on Fiverr.com. When he’s not pounding words on paper, you can find him banging notes on the piano or randomly traveling to a place.
