Sales and earnings slipped for Sturm, Ruger and Co. for the second quarter, but management for the firearms manufacturer remained confident in the general health of the overall buying environment as consumers continue to show interest in the company’s new products. It should also be noted that second quarter results anniversaried against essentially insurmountable year-ago numbers that were still riding momentum generated by the “Obama factor.”


In a conference call with analysts, company President and CEO Mike Fifer confirmed that although the surge is over, the “base level” of business now appears to be higher than it was prior to the surge. “Even though they are lower, we are pleased with the second quarter sales and earnings compared to 2009 because the second quarter of 2009 was clearly the peak of the post-election surge in demand,” continued Fifer. Sales for the company nearly doubled in the second quarter of last year.


“…The surge largely ended, in particular for long guns, (in) June (2009),” said Fifer. “And somewhere in that summer timeframe, the demand for the modern sporting rifle went from sort of the stratosphere down to the basement in just overnight. And it remained pretty sluggish thereafter. It's just starting to show some signs of picking up as retailers manage to flush through all the inventory they got buried in.” Fifer added that despite weakness from “black guns,” demand remains strong for personal protection firearms.


For the second quarter of 2010, management said  22% of sales came from new products, marking a slight dip in new product sales due to the fact that the company stopped including sales of the popular LCP, an ultralight .380 caliber handgun that has been popular with the personal protection customer.


The estimated sell-through of the company’s products from distributors to retailers in the first half of 2010 increased 1% from the first half of 2009, and management noted a 2% reduction in National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background checks during the period.


By product segment, net firearms sales, which accounted for nearly 99% of total sales, slipped 10.9% to $63.6 million from $71.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Sales for castings slipped 24.5% to $769,000 from $1.02 million a year ago.


In related news, the Ruger SR9c was named the “Handgun of the Year” by the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence.