Smith & Wesson Holding (SWHC)

Fiscal fourth-quarter profit topped analysts estimates.

Sales

Net product sales increased 25.2% to $293.9 million

Net Income

Net income for fiscal 2008 was $9.1million, or $0.22 per diluted share; $3.8 million lower than the previous year.

Margins

Gross margin of 31.2% for fiscal 2008 was lower than gross margin of 32.3% for F07 due to $8.9 million in promotional costs and $2.6 million in unabsorbed fixed overhead costs.

Forecasting a Better Performance

The companies strong performance in its fourth quarter from an inventory and cash management perspective has positioned them with a strong balance sheet as they begin fiscal 2009. During fiscal 2008, the company expanded their long gun product portfolio adding several extensions to their Thompson/Center ICON bolt-action rifle line, and they introduced a line of Smith & Wesson shotguns as well as the Smith & Wesson i-Bolt, bolt-action rifles. Sounds cool, however, in January 2008 the company suspended providing financial guidance due to the uncertain business and economic environment that existed at the time. Since then, the company has seen several encouraging signs. Those include an increase in the number of background checks conducted at retail over the past several months, as well as feedback from the companies distributors, indicating that excess handgun inventories have cleared out of the channel. The company continues to believe that they will emerge from this economic turmoil in a much stronger position than is reflected in the current stock price. However, it is the timing of that emergence of which they remain unsure.

Based on preliminary financial data, the Company currently expects to report revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 in the range of $69.0 million to $71.0 million compared with revenue of $50.8 million for the comparable quarter last fiscal year, reflecting revenue growth in the range of 36% to 40%. The Company expects to report earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 in the range of $0.05 to $0.07 per fully diluted share, compared with earnings of $0.07 per fully diluted share for the comparable quarter last fiscal year.