Now, before you begin swinging inside information shots my way, the birdie I'm referring to is Callaway itself. Over the past dozen years, the company that Ely Callaway built on the strength of its oversized Big Bertha golf club has tried to become more than just a one trick putt pony.
Cashing in on its tour popularity with such celebrated professional golfers as Arnold Palmer and Annika Sorenstam, Callaway took a page out of the Nike (NYSE:NKE) playbook and banked on its brand to drive a wedge into new revenue streams.
Oh, but those streams can be hazards on the golf course, and Callaway found that out firsthand when its expansion into apparel, footwear, and golf balls wasn't embraced as warmly by the public as some of its more club-specific introductions such as titanium drivers.
While the company bragged that its own line of golf balls was the second most popular brand of balls in play at major tours, the March quarter numbers told a more humbling story. Golf ball sales fell by 39% during the period and accounted for just 5% of the company's first-quarter revenue.
If you can't beat them organically, buy them out in bankruptcy court. Acquiring a company looking to file its way out of debt's bunker isn't always the smartest of moves, but Top-Flite was a leveraged buyout casualty that gradually buckled under its own weight.
Callaway won't have a problem absorbing the world's largest golf ball maker. With Callaway's woods, irons, and putters making up 86% of its sales so far this year, eating Top-Flite will help diversify its revenue base.
That's good. Callaway is going to have a "ball" now.
Do you play golf? Is there some Callaway in your bag? What do you think of the company's acquisition of Top-Flite? All this and more -- in theFoolish Golf Tipsdiscussion board. Only on Fool.com.
