Strong Year for Firearm Manufacturers

This shouldn't be suprising, given the fact firearm sales have reached historic highs.  But some investment managers who talked to ABC News for this story expressed surprise:

Peter Zeuli, CFA, head portfolio manager at Philadelphia Investment Partners, tells ABC News he is surprised how well Ruger, Smith & Wesson and other gun makers have performed. Ruger's earnings he calls consistently strong. He used to own the company's shares, he says, but had sold the stock, in part on expectations that the Obama administration would push through new firearms restrictions. That has not happened.

Most people would probably attribute the manufacturers good fortunes to the fact Obama's gun control push sparked sales to go through the roof.  One portfolio manager had a different explanation:

Randy Bateman, chief investment officer of the Huntington Asset Advisors in Columbus, Ohio, tells ABC News there's another explanation for gun makers' good times: Rural consumers have more money in their pockets. Farm incomes, he says, have risen in the past year. On top of that, hydraulic fracturing in farm states has brought in more money. That, he says, translates into increased sales by gun makes.

Whatever the cause, firearms remain the only industry that has done well in the five years of Obama's economic policies.

Hat tip to The Gun Wire.