Gun sales booming, so stupid investors dump their stock because it makes NYC.gov feel good
Gun sales are booming because of gun control’s very bad year. Federal attempts at gun control fail at every turn. Gun companies report record revenue. So, investment firms are dumping gun stocks. If these people manage your money, fire them:
Six months after launching a national divestment campaign against manufacturers of assault weapons and high-capacity ammo clips, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio announced eight hedge funds and money managers have completely divested their gun holdings, valued at $150 million. Fourteen more firms have scaled back their gun investments by 7.4 million shares—27 percent of their holdings.
The firms are:
AGF Investments Inc.
Sold 956,250 shares of Sturm Ruger stock, valued at more than $43 millionTiger Global Management
Sold 800,000 shares of Sturm Ruger stock, valued at more than $36 millionImpala Asset Management
Sold 346,252 shares of Smith & Wesson and 547,686 shares of Sturm Ruger, valued at more than $27 millionOwl Creek Asset Management
Sold 1,616,300 shares of Smith & Wesson, valued at more than $13 millionValinor Management, LLC
Sold 270,179 shares of Sturm Ruger stock, valued at $12 millionCitadel Investment Group
Sold 98,617 shares of Sturm Ruger and 137,097 of Olin Corp, valued at more than $11 millionHighside Capital Management
Sold 251,807 shares of Sturm Ruger stock, valued at more than $11 millionCoghill Capital Management
Sold 86,000 shares of Sturm Ruger stock, valued at $4 million
Also, more gun control activism paid for by NYC.gov.
July 25th, 2013 at 8:26 pm
“national divestment campaign against manufacturers of assault weapons and high-capacity ammo clips”
Go to their site and that BS is exposed: Olin is included because Winchester ammo was used in the 2011 Tucson shooting.
July 25th, 2013 at 9:08 pm
They hate the right to keep and bear arms itself.
July 25th, 2013 at 9:26 pm
If they’re selling, someone else is buying. And, whoever that is, is gonna make out quite well.
July 25th, 2013 at 10:33 pm
Magus, along that line, I wonder how many people are moving their money out of/getting ready to sue those hedge funds because/for “doing stupid things with my money.”
July 25th, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Where can I buy????? I’d love to own some gun stock!
July 25th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
I have a feeling they’re trying to get political capital while they actually dump for different reasons.
It appears that gun sales are leveling off at the “new normal”. While still higher than they were, the panic is ending and so quarterly results may not be as great as many expect.
This could very well just be a buy low sell high maneuver and they see that it’s plateaued meaning it will probably go down some.
We all knew eventually the kids would settle down and the bubble would shrink if not pop. That said, they may be trying to gain political capital while they make a solid decision. Either way, fuck ’em. Ultimately gun stocks will only increase over time. Any dips will be short lived.
July 25th, 2013 at 11:15 pm
http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/02/19/calpers-votes-to-sell-stake-in-two-gun-makers/
The stupid goes deep, particularly here in Commiefornia. Led by California State Treasurer and career anti-gun nut Bill Locker, California dumped investments in Ruger and S&W. Ironic since both those companies have done more than any other to comply with the insane California regulations regarding handgun sales. That’ll teach ’em!
That is what the anti-gunners mean when they claim they want common sense gun regulation.
July 25th, 2013 at 11:20 pm
D’oh! Typo! I meant “Bill Lockyer”.
Though now that I have your attention, here is some fun at the anti-gun nut’s expense.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-01/meth-charge-for-lockyer-s-wife-imperils-his-ambitions
July 26th, 2013 at 2:52 am
Brad, strange how none of this ever hit anything bigger than the local news…
July 26th, 2013 at 7:17 am
Fortunately, I manage my own money. And my SWHC has done quite well lately without the hedge fund support.
July 26th, 2013 at 7:26 am
This creates a bargain stock for the rest of us. The dip is temporary if the business is sound. It will rebound as sure as the sun comes up in the east.
July 26th, 2013 at 7:41 am
They bought low and sold high. I don’t see the problem with this, it’s their fiduciary duty. Do you really want large anti-gun institutional shareholders getting seats on the board and influencing decisions?
This is a very good thing. Let main street keep buying into these stocks.
July 26th, 2013 at 7:52 am
I think some of you folks need to learn what a hedge fund is and to connect real dots. Hedge funds invest in high-risk markets. Hedge funds don’t “manage your money.” They’re limited partnerships, which reflects that the fund managers are investing money for a select group of people (typically rich people). Don’t fret. De Blaso might be claiming that his group’s advocacy was responsible for the divestments, but that’s hardly the case. I’m betting that the people whose money is being divested are the limousine liberals who are trying to prevent their hypocrisy from being exposed by people who are savvy enough to track down the fingerprints. Think about it: Did Michael Moore make $50 million off of his movies? I doubt it. He took the money he made and invested it. The same for Russell Simmons, Steven Spielberg and the rest of their ilk. The “divestments” aren’t really divestments. They’re covering their tracks over the fact that they profited very well on the scandals they manufactured. Now that the bubble’s popping on that market (gun prices are going down and ammo stocks are returning) and they’ve made more millions off of a national panic, they’re pulling their money out. They “bought low” and now they’re “selling high.” Don’t be mad because you got suckered. Get even.
July 26th, 2013 at 8:04 am
One thing to ask: How much of a profit did they make in selling? If the stocks in question had risen well enough since being purchased then any investor in his right mind would be well advised to “Take the money as run” no matter how much further the stocks still might go. Being greedy and not letting go of a profitable stock just because you think it might yet go higher is a noob mistake that burns any investor who indulges in it too much.
July 26th, 2013 at 8:06 am
“Take the money as run” should read “Take the money and run”. *^_^*
July 26th, 2013 at 9:10 am
buy low, sell high…the reason is just leftist fluff
July 26th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
Well, if these Idiots want to punch holes in their Buckets when it’s raining Soup, that just means all the more for the rest of us. If this Blasio guy really wanted to Crow, he’d have something to Squawk about if he announced that all these Hedge Funds tried to sell of the Firearms Stocks and got no takers. But since the Free Market decided to Buy them, and the Hedge Funds got some Cash for them, it’s kinda like a Communist Bragging that “See, we FORCED them to make a Profit!”
And isn’t this Idjit running for some NYC Political Job? Guess this type of Propaganda goes over well with the Manhattan Mindless Mob, but in the Real World….
July 27th, 2013 at 1:59 am
I would BET that EVERY ONE of those “Investment Firms” are run By Dimocraps that were BIG donors to the Obama campaign funds and probably supported Bloombutt too.
Just dimocraps making a big show as usual.
July 27th, 2013 at 7:08 am
Firearms stocks are not wise investment right now. They’re at historically high prices. The market has leveled off and firearms sales are slowing.
Wait for the next quarterly reports from S&W and Ruger. The earnings are going to fall short and the prices are going to drop. The time to buy was back in 2008 and 2009, not today.
July 27th, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Manolo, thanks for the education. I was thinking “long-term equity” rather than “growth.” Older conservative people do that.
So a hedge fund is more like throwing money at a slot machine you’re pretty sure is going to hit.
July 27th, 2013 at 6:38 pm
My financial person called me the other day. Seems SWHC wants to buy back a bunch of the stock that I and others own. She seems to think it’s because S&W is predicting good things and wants to have as much of their own stock as possible, and recommended holding on to it.
July 29th, 2013 at 9:52 am
If you bought Ruger stock right after Newton you could get it for $40, it maxed in March at 55, and has been flat since. I’m sure the hedge funds got out of it, they are into stocks that move, not stuff that’s not moving either way. I’d say it’s Bloomberg’s staffers trying to find a “win” for their cause when they had nothing to do with it.
July 29th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
1) Someone should cull Mr. Morris’ spam post above.
2) What others said, above. It’s probably good investement sense to sell Ruger now.
If some hedge funds sold it, it’s probably just Bloomberg’s people trying to pretend they caused it (as Mu suggested), rather than actually doing so.
Unless we all missed a notice from one or more of those funds saying that they were selling gun stocks “because we think guns are bad”… and remember, that if you’re doing it for that reason, you have an incentive to tell the world.
Because if you’re doing that, you’re doing it “because you think it’s right” – and telling the world about that is both “more of the same” (encouraging others to do so) and also – assuming you think the average potential customer is likely to think “right” – would tend to get you customers.
A lack of press releases touting the sales as “ethical investment” would make me believe it was normal “thinking the stock is about to drop for business reasons” sales.
July 30th, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Buy Low, Sell High. You have to sell sometime. And when an industry booms, it can end up being too large a percentage of your portfolio – especially if you have explain your holdings to a board of directors, clients, whoever. And selling some of your winnings (27% is definitely some, but not a lot) lets you go looking for the next big thing.