Tag Archives: RGR

PAA Research SMid Cap Portfolio Update

We wanted to provide you with an update on the performance of our SMid Cap portfolio, which we introduced on 9/3/09. You can find our initial report here. As a reminder this is a “mock” portfolio with an initial value of $100 million. We plan to manage the portfolio like a long/short equity hedge fund.
Here [...]

The “Obama Effect” One Year Later – What Firearms Dealers Are Saying Now

There is little debate that President Obama’s most effective economic stimulus has been for the broader firearms industry.  As soon as it became clear in October of last year that Obama would win the presidential election, gun sales took off.  Gun owners and firearms activists became concerned that a Democrat controlled Congress and White House [...]

August NICS Background Check Data Shows First Month-to Month Sequential Improvment in a While, Key Questions Heading into SWHC’s 1Q10 Results

The August data for the number of background checks conducted under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was released this morning. Overall, the total number of background checks increased 12.3% on a YOY basis and increased 11.2% on a month-to-month basis to 1,074,757.  This represents the first month-to-month increase since March of this year. [...]

Introducing the PAA Research SMid-Cap Portfolio

One of the biggest issues we have struggled with since inception at PAA Research is how to manage the difficulties of providing static recommendations in a dynamic market.  For example, we introduced short recommendations for SWHC and RGR based on our view that the ”Obama effect” on firearms sales was poised to wane and that both stocks [...]

Sturm, Ruger Strong 2Q09 Results, but Orders are Falling and Channel Inventories Rising – Back to Normalcy in the Firearms Market

Sturm, Ruger& Company, Inc. reported 2Q09 results after the close.  You can view the results here.  The company reported revenues and EPS of $72.4 million (vs. $36.9 million 2Q08) and $0.46 (vs. $0.11 2Q08).  EPS beat the lone estimate available by $0.20.  We think EPS upside was largely factored into the stock following SWHC’s earnings [...]

The June NICS Background Checks Are In – Another Sequential Month to Month Decline

The June data for the number of background checks conducted under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was released this morning. Overall, the total number of background checks increased 18.1% on a YOY basis, but declined 5.4% from May to 968,145. The overall number of background checks is at the [...]

June Traffic Data Suggests A Further Slowdown in Firearm Sales

As we have noted in the past, we are actively following website traffic to the leading online gun dealers to gain a better gauge of current and future demand for firearms. Outside of the monthly data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), we view website traffic to the leading online gun [...]

What To Do About Smith and Wesson (SWHC) Now

SWHC shares have rallied dramatically today following the company’s positive pre-announcement after the close yesterday. As we highlighted in our original post on both SWHC and Sturm, Ruger (RGR), consensus estimates for SWHC’s 4Q09 were too low. In fact, here’s exactly what we wrote:
“We expect SWHC to beat 4Q09 earnings expectations, which will be [...]

Another Decline in Traffic to Leading Online Gun Dealers, Query Data Suggest Gun Sales Will Continue To Slow

In our original post on Smith and Wesson and Sturm, Ruger, we argued that declining traffic to leading online gun dealers in April was a critical indicator that firearm sales would fall off sharply. According to Compete.com, the total number of unique visitors to the leading online gun dealers in April declined 11.6% from [...]

More Evidence the “Obama Effect” On Gun Sales Has Peaked – NICS Background Checks Decline 16.5% M/M from April to May

In our original post on Smith and Wesson and Sturm, Ruger, we argued that these two stocks were poised to see significant downside as the “Obama Effect” on gun sales started to fade. A combination of lower visitation to the leading online gun dealers, rising inventory and slower sales expectations among dealers, and a [...]