OUTDOOR HUB
Daniel Xu | March 5, 2014
With runaway profits in 2013, gun makers are looking at a leaner, but still very profitable 2014.
Image from E smith2000 on the Wikimedia Commons
Smith & Wesson shares jumped 12 percent in premarket trading early on Wednesday while fellow gun maker Ruger recently took an eight percent dip. Firearm manufacturers expect to do good business in 2014, but not as good as it was in the previous year. According to CNN Money, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently released its data for background checks in January, which was about a third lower than the same period in 2013.
“Retail inventories, which had been in short supply last spring, have largely returned to normal now,” wrote gun industry analyst Rommel Dionisio. “Monthly comparisons have recently turned sharply negative, a trend we expect to last through at least May or June 2014.”