Brunswick Corp., a global leader in boat manufacturing and recreation on the water, is counting on advanced technology to help with stalling sales.
The parent company of Sea Ray, Boston Whaler and other boat brands, says advanced navigation technology and autonomous docking can take some of the complexity out of maneuvering a vessel around a crowded marina.
The bet is twofold: convince would-be buyers to dive into a market that's been sluggish — with retail sales of new vessels expected to remain subdued through 2026 — and increase aftermarket and recurring revenue through technology and software sales.
Brunswick's portfolio extends well beyond the boat brands. Its Navico Group sells marine electronics and technology, while its Mercury Marine supplies engines and maintains a parts and accessories business.
Roughly 60% of Brunswick's earnings now come from aftermarket or recurring revenue, and Roth Capital Partners analyst Scott Stember says that mix gives the company meaningful exposure beyond new boat sales.
Brunswick told investors it anticipates annual sales of 145,000 to 160,000 units by 2030. Roth characterizes that as modest recovery in demand from estimated U.S. retail sales this year of fewer than 135,000 vessels.
The sluggish demand is being felt most in Brunswick's least expensive models.
"We're seeing premium boats and what we call our core portfolio being very resilient," CEO David Foulkes told CNBC. "What we're seeing is value boats, which are more typically financed or more subject to interest rate pressures ... they're not doing badly, but they're just not doing as well as some of our more premium products."
But Brunswick could increase the amount of electronics and technology onboard, even if the number of boats sold doesn't rise dramatically.
For instance, 55% of Navico's original-equipment customers have increased their Navico content since 2023, according to the company. And Navico has launched more than 30 new products since 2025.
One of those is Simrad AutoCaptain, which helps navigate and dock boats. The business strategy makes sense: Make it easy to take the boat out, and more importantly back in, and you just might sell a bigger, more expensive boat. The company generates more business around the boat, too.
Another piece of the strategy is Freedom Boat Club — a kind of country club for boaters, with locations around the globe. Members pay a fee and monthly dues for access to vessels to take out on the water at any of the locations.
Brunswick reported during its August investor day that the club has more than tripled its membership since 2019 to more than 63,000 members. Trips and reservations have grown fourfold, while the network has expanded to more than 450 locations and a fleet of roughly 5,000 boats.
And unlike the cyclical sales of a new boat, Freedom Boat Club lands squarely inside Brunswick's recurring-revenue profile, with about 90% of the club's sales recurring and trips running 10% higher than a year ago, one indication that consumers are continuing to take to the seas even as new-boat sales remain weak.
That approach is becoming more important as Brunswick lays out ambitious financial targets without assuming a return to the industry's boom years.
The company is targeting $7 billion to $8 billion in revenue by 2030, operating margins of 10% to 13% and earnings of between $8 and $12 per share.
KeyBanc, which has a sector-weight rating on Brunswick stock, said management expects pricing, a richer premium-product mix, market-share gains and new-product innovation to help drive growth.
Roth, which rates the shares buy with a $94 price target, is more bullish. Stember wrote that Brunswick is "uniquely positioned" within recreation and leisure to produce meaningful earnings growth even with only a "modest/non-heroic" recovery in new-boat demand.
Brunswick is also trying to remove supply chain risk by reducing its China-sourced parts by as much as 75% and cutting tariff exposure by 70%.
Foulkes said that gives Brunswick an advantage over competitors based overseas.
Investors, of course, will weigh whether the sum total of advanced technology, more efficient engines and recurring revenue from Freedom Boat Club can keep profits afloat, even if unit growth remains challenging.
