Thursday, October 25, 2007

Shares of Sturm Ruger down sharply...

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Shares of Sturm Ruger & Co. (NYSE:RGR) fell sharply Thursday after the company posted a third-quarter loss and sales decreased from the comparable quarter last year.

After the closing bell Wednesday, the company reported a third-quarter loss of $617,000, or 3 cents a share, compared with earnings a year earlier of $957,000, or 4 cents a share.

Third-quarter sales were $31.9 million, down from last year's sales of $41.6 million.

Shares of the Southport, Conn.-based firearm and investment casting products company were down 41.4% to $10.02.

Let's see; beaten to the marketplace by S&W and Taurus when it comes to the new big-packing-revolver rage, the introduction of yet another oversized and clunky 9 mm semi-auto when the trend in THAT area is for lighter and sleeker...

Why sure Ruger is losing market shares.

Still the king of single-action revolvers, but they just might want to have a peek at what the gun public has been asking for. Circa '07, and NOT '67. 1867 at that.

When Ruger needed a headliner product to bring its handgun line into focus they dropped the ball, bigtime. Lets face it, and not that I read gun rags anymore, but when was the last time you saw a Ruger on the cover of any of the "popular" gunzines? How about a fat new law enforcement or military contract to brag about?

Sorry, Ruger. Fewer and fewer older and younger gunners alike give a hoot about how Taffin feels while fanning a Vaquero.

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