Profit Rises at Smith & Wesson

The company's shares are higher on the news.

Author:: Rob Lenihan
Publish date:: Jun 16, 2006 3:10 PM EDT

The company's shares are higher on the news.

Smith & Wesson

(SWB)

saw its shares rise after the Springfield, Mass., gunmaker topped Wall Street's fourth-quarter expectations.

For the quarter ended April 30, the company earned $4.2 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with $1.8 million, or 5 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue increased 44% to $51.9 million. Analysts were looking for a profit of 8 cents a share on $43.3 million in revenue.

For the full year, the company earned $8.7 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $5.2 million, or 14 cents a share, last year. Sales increased 27% to $157.9 million.

Looking ahead, Smith & Wesson raised its sales expectations for fiscal 2007 to between $180 million and $186 million, a 14% to 18% increase. The company forecast earnings of 30 cents to 32 cents a share. The consensus estimates call for earnings of 31 cents a share on $181.6 million in revenue.

Shares of Smith & Wesson gained 21 cents, or 2.7%, to $7.96 Friday.