Smith & Wesson Now Up 12% Following Strong Guidance

Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp SWHC surged higher by more than 12 percent on Tuesday and hit a new 52-week high of $26.54.

Smith & Wesson provided a better-than-expected guidance to its third quarter and fiscal 2016 expectations on Monday. The company expects to earn $0.39 to $0.41 per share in the third quarter on revenue of $175 million to $180 million - exceeding Wall Street's expectations of $0.28 per share and $154.6 million.

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Smith & Wesson also guided its full year fiscal 2016 earnings per share to a range of $1.36 to $1.41 on revenue of $650 million to $660 million - also topping Wall Street's expectations of $1.32 per share and $636.5 million.

Smith & Wesson noted that sell-through of its products at distribution has been "stronger than originally anticipated, resulting in reduced distributor inventories of its firearms." The company also noted "Adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) data for the month of December, which serves as an indicator of consumer purchases, reflected strong growth versus December 2014."

The stock traded recently at $26.16, up 12.4 percent.