Gun stocks have taken a beating in the wake of last week's school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Private equity firm Cerberus has moved to sell the Freedom Group, a consortium of companies that manufacture guns and ammunition, including the rifle used in last week's shooting.
Meanwhile, Sturm, Ruger & Company (RGR) and Smith & Wesson (SWHC), two publicly traded gun manufacturers, have seen share prices decline more than 20 percent over since the Friday shooting as gun control advocates have called for new firearm regulations that would restrict the sale of popular firearms like the AR-15, as well as so-called high-capacity magazines.
Today those stocks are bouncing back. Smith & Wesson was up 5 percent as of noon Wednesday when President Barack Obama started speaking about new gun control initiatives his administration will pursue. However, shortly after Obama declared that Vice President Joe Biden would lead a commission to look into remedies to the rash of school shootings, the stock began to spike.
By the end of Obama's press conference, Smith & Wesson was up 8.34 percent for the day and Sturm, Ruger & Company was up 6.03 percent.