The Trump slump is officially not a thing. Well, at least for one day it wasn’t. Black Friday firearms sales shattered the one-day NICS record, as American gun buyers swooped down on ballistic bargains created by over-optimistic over-production. usatoday.com:
The FBI was flooded Friday with more than 200,000 background check requests for gun purchases, setting a new single day record, the bureau reported Saturday.
In all, the FBI fielded 203,086 requests on Black Friday, up from the previous single-day highs of 185,713 last year and 185,345 in 2015. The two previous records also were recorded on Black Friday.
Yes, but — one day does not a slump relieve. Over at seekingalpha.com, the oddly named Maks F. S. clocks the publicly traded firearms manufacturers’ bloated inventories and wonders Can It Get Worse For Guns And Ammo?
So far in 2017 we have seen double-digit declines in likely sales as represented by the adjusted NICS data and it is only accelerating. All of this comes in light of unprecedented promotional activity which has no end in sight.
The publicly traded companies have only reported the numbers as represented by the better earlier numbers. Is it any surprise then that both Vista and Ruger have lowered forward guidance? Not for me!
While gun owners are rejoicing, gun stock investors should be concerned. All of the pain thus far has come merely from the beginning of the adjustment to normalized numbers, and I do not believe they are there yet.
The law of supply and demand is immutable. Making it the best of times for gun and ammo buyers, and the not-so-great time for gun and ammo sellers.