The U.S. has the highest levels of gun ownership per capita rate in the world and due to recent events such as the Pandemic and the latest eruption of civil unrest over the past week, we have identified ‘Social Unrest’ as a new investment theme for our portfolio.
According to the FBI background check system, Americans have been buying firearms at record levels. 3.7 million firearm check were carried out in March. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/06/gun-dealers-urged-defer-fbi-gun-sales-soar-amid-coronavirus/3084281001/
We went long America’s passion for guns last Wednesday by adding American Outdoor Brands Corporation (OAPC) to the mix. The Company, formerly Smith and Wesson, manufactures pistols, revolvers, tactical rifles, hunting rifles, black powder firearms, handcuffs, and firearm-related products and accessories for sale in the U.S. and throughout the world.
From Monday 01 June, the company will change its name back to Smith & Wesson Brands. The new ticker symbol is ‘SWBI’ and will be listed on the NASDAQ. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-outdoor-brands-prepares-spin-200500475.html
The rising tensions and social unrest in the U.S. is further confirmation to us that we have entered the ‘Anger Phase’ that we wrote about recently: https://theimpartiallens.com/2020/05/enter-stage-anger
The murder of a civilian, George Floyd, by a police officer has resulted in multiple demonstrations taking place in cities across America. More than 1,400 people have been arrested in 16 cities since Thursday with more than 500 occurring in Los Angeles last Friday. One of our own analysts who is based in Los Angeles commented on the busy shooting ranges ‘you can’t get into the gun ranges here to practice’.