Sturm Ruger and Co (RGR)

[short_term]

When NICS data goes down, gun sales are sure to follow. I would not be comfortable as a buyer at these levels. Time to sell short IMO. All the insider selling is not comforting either.

"Earlier this week, analysts at KeyBanc pointed out that NICS data on handgun background checks run by the FBI in December (indicative of handgun purchase activity in the U.S.) was down 32.5% year over year against December 2012. That means that as a whole, Q4 background checks were down about 19.4% year over year. Even worse, KeyBanc noted that it seems to be seeing "a heightened promotional environment (the likes of which have not been seen for several quarters now)" among gun sellers. This, in turn, suggests that profit margins on the few guns that were sold last quarter may not have been all that great."