Smith & Wesson is on a roll, and in more ways than one. The historic gun manufacturer announced last month that it will move its headquarters from Springfield, Massachusetts to Blount County, Tennessee, bringing 750 jobs with it and becoming the county’s eighth-largest employer. Recruiting one of the world’s largest gun manufacturers has been seen as a regional and statewide economic win for the Volunteer State, which is already home to twenty small arms and ammunition producers.

The company, which remains one of the largest manufacturers and designers of firearms in the world, was based in Massachusetts since it was founded in 1852. Now, because of the political climate in the Bay State, it is relocating its distribution, assembly, and plastic injection molding operations from Springfield, along with its headquarters. It is also closing facilities in Connecticut and Missouri as part of the move, while part of its Massachusetts facility will remain open. Employees at the other facilities will have the opportunity to relocate with financial and logistical assistance from Smith & Wesson.

News of the relocation came as the company reported a very strong year as gun sales have continued to reach record levels. Even as 2021 has seen a slight decline in firearms sales in recent months, it is on track to potentially outpace 2020 overall and will certainly surpass 2019 and all previous years.

In the most recent quarter, Smith & Wesson reported $274.6 million in net sales, a 19.5 percent increase over the same quarter last year. It further surpassed $1.1 billion in revenue for the first time in fiscal year 2021 and shipped 2.6 million firearms.

That is why investors remain quite bullish on Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ: SWBI).

Zacks Equity Research reported on Thursday, “Prior to today’s trading, shares of the firearm maker had lost 2.23% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Consumer Discretionary sector’s loss of 2.59% and lagged the S&P 500’s gain of 2.57% in that time. SWBI will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release.”

Insider Monkey/Yahoo! Finance also reported that there remains “smart money sentiment” surrounding Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., and that the SWBI was in twenty-one hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the second quarter of this year. The all-time high for this statistic is twenty-four.

“At the end of the second quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 17% from one quarter earlier,” Noam Gottesman of GLG Partners told Insider Monkey. “By comparison, 24 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in SWBI a year ago. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an ‘upper tier’ of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).”

Even if investors become less bullish on the historic brand, there is little reason to suggest that American consumers will turn away from Smith & Wesson anytime soon. The company’s dedication to the Second Amendment seems rock solid, and rather than stop making a popular product because of the political climate in one state, it found a new home where it was met with open arms.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Reuters