Smith & Wesson Seen Profiting From Gun Boom
Gun sales keep rising thanks to the anti-gunners…
Via CNBC:
Amid talks of tighter gun control and a series of tragic shootings, a pickup in demand for firearms is expected to drive double-digit gains in both sales and profits for Smith & Wesson’s fiscal first quarter.
After seeing slower demand in May, “The past two months have seen a dramatic surge in U.S. firearms sales, particularly in rifles,” Wunderlich Securities analyst Rommel Dionisio said in a research note.
Adjusted gun background checks, frequently used as a proxy for retail gun sales, soared approximately 28 percent in July, to just over 1.21 million. The adjusted figures released by National Shooting Sports Foundation also show June and July totals were records for those months.
“The gun industry has not had a chance to catch its breath amid the current buying frenzy,” C.L. King & Associates analyst Scott Stember wrote in a report this week. “As seen in prior cycles, one could even argue that the severity of the pullback will worsen if the current surge continues.”
Smith & Wesson is scheduled to report results Thursday for the three months ended July. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast the company’s earnings will jump 65 percent, to 53 cents per share. Revenue is projected to rise 34 percent, to $198 million.
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