Backlog Orders up 72%... Name That Company

Armageddon trade of the day... Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc:

Designs, manufactures, and sells firearms in the United States. The company offers its products under ‘Ruger’ name in four product categories, including single-shot, autoloading, bolt-action, and lever action rifles; over and under, and side by side shotguns; rimfire autoloading and centerfire autoloading pistols; and single action and double action revolvers.

It also happens to be the only stock in the S&P 500 (according to a comment this morning on CNBC) reaching a new intra-year high today.



HoweStreet details:

Its revenues and earnings are increasing, and the company's backlog in orders jumped 72 percent from the 3rd quarter to the 4th quarter.

Why is the outlook improving for gun manufacturers?

Maybe because while other industries are sliding down a slippery slope of lower demand, the output of U.S. small arms manufacturing is forecast to grow at an annual compounded rate of 2 percent between 2008 and 2013.

The sales of both guns and ammo are flying partly due to worries about economic calamity and partly because the National Rifle Association is fanning the flames of rumors that President Obama wants to confiscate guns and raise ammunition taxes by 500 percent.

Will President Obama tighten the rules on gun sales? I have my doubts. With the economy collapsing, he has bigger fish to fry. Nonetheless, if history is any guide, the NRA will constantly ring the alarm bell for the next four or eight years ... and gun manufacturers will reap the benefits.