Shares are up $2.16 to $13.96. The Springfield, Mass.- based maker of handguns and semi-automatic rifles bucked forecasts of slower industry growth, posting third-quarter sales of $146 million, up 7% and a 42% rise in earnings from the year-ago quarter.
CEO James Debney says sales and earnings for the handgun and rifle maker's 2014 fiscal year, which ends April 30, will be higher than Wall Street estimates.
Investors bailed on Smith & Wesson last month after rival Sturm, Ruger posted fourth-quarter sales below Wall Street expectations and said 2013 sales fell 20% from 2012.
Smith & Wesson has about 17% of the $2 billion U.S. handgun market and a 7% share of the $2.1 billion "long gun" market, according to company filings.
Sturm, Ruger is up about 3% to $65.30,
Overall sales of guns and ammunition soared following the 2012 movie theater massacre in suburban Denver and school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., largely on fears of tighter gun control measures.
Both Sturm and Smith & Wesson say they plan to stop selling most new handguns in California, which now requires semi-automatic weapons to have serial numbers stamped in gun chambers so bullets can be easily traced by law enforcement.
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