Gun stocks in the United States have stormed back in the summer and early fall after slumping following a political firestorm early in the year. Let’s look at two stocks that have surged ahead of the U.S. midterms.
American Outdoor Brands (NASDAQ:AOBC) stock has climbed 37% over the past three months as of close on October 16. Shares are now up 15.8% in 2018 so far. The company released its fiscal 2019 first-quarter results back on August 30. Quarterly net sales climbed 7.6% year-over-year to $138.8 million and quarterly GAAP net income rose to $7.6 million or $0.14 per diluted share compared to a loss of $2.2 million or $0.04 per diluted share in the prior year.
New products at American Outdoor Brands represented 28.5% of its firearm revenue in Q1 fiscal 2019. This included strong sales for the M&P Shield 380 EZ pistol, which was launched in February of this year.
Sturm Ruger & Co. (NYSE:RGR) stock has surged 17.5% over the past three months. The stock is now up 18% in 2018 so far. Sturm Ruger released its second-quarter results back on August 1.
For the first six months of 2018, Sturm Ruger has seen net sales fall to $259.6 million compared to $299.2 million in the previous year. Sales of new firearms also powered revenue in the quarter. New products represented 29% of firearm sales in the first half of 2018.
The board of directors also declared a dividend of $0.34 per share representing a 1.6% dividend yield.
