Investors Are Excited About These 5 Stocks As The Trading Week Kicks Off

Another Shooting May Mean More Volatility for Firearm-Related Plays

Gun stocks Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SWHC) and Sturm, Ruger & Company (NYSE:RGR), along with taser manufacturer TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR) are in the spotlight today after a gunman killed three police officers in Baton Rouge on Sunday. The gunman, who was a former marine, had anti-police views and may have been further angered after Alton Sterling was killed by Baton Rouge officers earlier in the month while allegedly reaching for a firearm in his pocket, which was later retrieved. The renewed focus on the shooting of black men by police officers could prompt more interest in Taser, a company that makes non-lethal weapons, and the killings of the three police officers over the weekend could prompt more calls for greater gun control, which would increase the immediate demand for guns.

Although gun stocks and Taser typically rally after mass shootings, the market could be exhausting itself on the news, given that several other mass shootings have occurred recently. Shares of all three companies are up modestly in pre-market trading. Of the 766 elite funds that we track, 24 funds owned shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SWHC) on March 31, 17 top funds had long positions in Sturm, Ruger & Company (NYSE:RGR), and 11 funds had shares of TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR) in their equity portfolios.

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