Legendary American firearm manufacturer Smith & Wesson has been more of a trading vehicle than anything else since crashing during the vicious late-2007-2009 bear market. Gold bugs may have been touting the gun plays as a good bet on anarchy and doom & gloom, but thus far SWHC has yet to even take out its post-crash rally highs from the spring of 2009 at about $7.50. Relative to the broad market and many sectors and issues, Smith & Wesson has amounted to a jammed handgun for longs, failing to fire when ready.
Recently, though, SWHC broke out on very strong buy volume from its more than 30-month downtrend (off those post-crash May 2009 rally highs). When you have a stock that has seen countless fits and starts as a trading vehicle over a sustained period of time, volume takes on even more significance in terms of gauging whether a breakout is legitimate. Here, Smith & Wesson has found buyers of size that have presented themselves in a meaningful way.
In addition to SWHC, Sturm, Ruger & Co. is the other great American firearm manufacture in the space. Since 2009, RGR has actually soundly outperformed SWHC in terms of share price action. While SWHC has only recently taken the lead, you can see below that RGR is on the cusp of a major breakout above $40, Also note the recent clearing of prior resistance on increased buy volume.
_____________________________
_____________________________
I see what you did there in the last half of your first paragraph, and I liked it.
Persuasive.