Smith & Wesson, Ruger shares explode

Wall Street pundits often talk about the resiliency of stocks such as McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT). Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC) and Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR), the two publicly traded gunmakers, have vastly outperformed them both.

Smith & Wesson, one of the iconic names in American weapons making, is up more than 112 percent this year in the wake of its recent strong earnings report. Strum, Ruger, maker of Ruger firearms, is up more than 60 percent. A spokesman for Smith & Wesson did not return phone calls. David Renken, Strum, Ruger's manager of corporate finance, referred a reporter to the company's SEC filings and urged him to "draw your own conclusions" about the company's sales. The company's fourth quarter firearm sales soared 42 percent.