L.A. County Sheriff’s Department weapons training instructor Sgt. Mike Brandriff fires his Smith & Wesson at the Pitchess Detention Center gun range. (Photo: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Smith & Wesson’s stock sunk to its lowest in two months Monday after two banks downgraded the gunmaker.
The stock fell about $5 from $27.76 when the markets closed Friday to under $23 per share by Monday afternoon.
Smith & Wesson’s loss represents a 13 percent decrease in shares since analysis from Cowen & Co was made public, the Financial Times reported. The financial analyst downgraded the company’s stock from “outperform” to “market perform,” while another analyst, BB&T, downgraded the stock from “buy” to “hold.”
Despite the gun manufacturer’s recent loss, analysts have said its stock has “solid long-term value.” Regal Point Capital Management cited fear marketing from increased federal regulation and mass shootings as having driven up Smith & Wesson’s stock and suggested investors hold on to it.
Fellow gunmaker Sturm, Ruger & Co was also affected by the downgrade, its stock falling 10 percent to under $65 a share.
This was also the busiest March for NICS background checks – one indicator of gun sales industrywide – last month showing more than 2.5 million checks performed compared to the just over 2 million the same month last year. Though there was an increase year-to-year, the number of checks decreased from the previous several months.
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