Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Q1 2025 Earnings Report

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.46
• Consensus EPS: $0.65
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.19
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.40

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $135.74 million
• Expected Revenue: $148.05 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$12.31 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: -0.80%

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2025
• Date: 4/30/2025
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, May 1, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 9:00AM ET

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) designs, manufactures, and sells firearms for the commercial sporting market. Its product portfolio includes modern sporting rifles, bolt-action rifles, single-shot rifles, autoloading rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers. The company markets its products primarily under the Ruger brand.

Founded in 1949 by William B. Ruger and Alexander McCormick Sturm, the company has developed a broad lineup serving hunters, sport shooters, firearm collectors, and personal-protection customers. Sturm, Ruger also owns the Marlin brand, which it acquired along with substantially all of the assets of Marlin Firearms from Remington Outdoor Company in 2020. Marlin is known primarily for its lever-action rifles.

Sturm, Ruger sells its firearms throughout the United States through a network of independent wholesale distributors and federally licensed firearm retailers. The company operates manufacturing facilities in the United States and emphasizes domestic design and production. Christopher J. Killoy has served as the company’s president and chief executive officer.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• In Q1 FY25, Ruger reported net sales of $135.7 million and diluted EPS of $0.46, up from $0.40 last year, while improving gross margin to 22% from 21.5%.
• Despite a 9.6% industry-wide decline in unit firearm sales, Ruger’s overall sales remained flat year-over-year, demonstrating relative outperformance.
• New product introductions drove $40.7 million, or 31.6% of net firearm sales, and the company highlighted a robust pipeline with plans to accelerate launches.
• Capital expenditures are expected to exceed $30 million in 2025—up from historical levels—to expand capacity, upgrade manufacturing, and support new product rollouts.
• Ruger returned $7 million to shareholders via a $0.18 per share dividend and repurchased 79,000 shares, underscoring its debt-free balance sheet and variable‐dividend strategy.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2025 Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone. You'll then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn it over to Todd Seyfert, President and CEO, for opening comments.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Sturm, Ruger & Company's First Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. This is my first call as president and CEO, and I want to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation to all of you, our shareholders, our customers, our employees, and our partners, for your continued support and engagement. Before we get started, I would like to turn it over to Sarah Colbert, our Vice President of Administration and Incoming General Counsel, for the caution on forward-looking statements.

[Sarah Colbert, VP of Administration and Incoming General Counsel at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

I would like to remind everyone that some of the statements we make today will be forward-looking in nature. These statements reflect our current expectations, but actual results could differ materially due to a number of uncertainties and risks. You can find more information about these factors in our most recent Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. We do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Thank you, Sarah. I'm honored to lead Ruger at this exciting moment in our history. It's been just over 60 days since I stepped into the CEO role, and I've visited our facilities, spent time with teams across the organization, met with our distributors, retailers, and consumers, and heard firsthand from the people who power this company. Those interactions have only reinforced what I already knew. Ruger is a company grounded in craftsmanship, integrity, and relentless commitment to quality. From the production lines in Arizona, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Missouri, to the engineers behind our latest product innovations, I've been inspired by the pride, the passion, and the deep-rooted expertise of our employees. Before we dive into the numbers, I'd like to take a moment to recognize someone who has been a central figure in Ruger's story over the last several decades: my predecessor, Chris Killoy.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Chris spent more than 20 years at Ruger. His leadership has had a profound impact on our company and our culture. Chris helped shape Ruger's modern era, guiding us through periods of record growth, major product innovations, and operational improvements that have elevated our reputation across the industry. His contributions extend beyond Ruger. Chris has dedicated over 30 years to the firearms industry, and his legacy reflects a deep commitment to responsibility, safety, and advancing the industry in meaningful ways. He's been a respected voice, a steady hand, and a true ambassador for our company and the industry in general. I want to personally thank Chris for his service, for the values he upheld, and for the strong team he helped build here at Ruger. His impact will be felt for many years to come. Tom Dineen will now provide the financial results for the first quarter of 2025.

[Tom Dineen, Senior VP of Finance, Treasurer, and CFO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Thanks, Todd. In the first quarter of 2025, we delivered solid performance with strong demand across several key product categories and a focus on operational improvements. Net sales were $135.7 million and diluted earnings were $0.46 per share. For the corresponding period in 2024, net sales were $136.8 million and diluted earnings were $0.40 per share. Our profitability improved in the first quarter of 2025 from the prior year as our gross margin increased from 21.5% to 22%. The higher margin was driven by favorable leveraging of fixed costs resulting from increased production, despite $800,000 of deferred revenue related to sales promotions. At March 29th, 2025, our cash and short-term investments totaled $108 million. Our short-term investments are invested in United States Treasury bills and in a money market fund that invests exclusively in United States Treasury instruments, which mature within one year.

[Tom Dineen, Senior VP of Finance, Treasurer, and CFO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

At March 29th, 2025, our current ratio was 4.6 to 1, and we had no debt. Stockholders' equity was $321 million, which equates to a book value of $19.39 per share, of which $6.53 was cash and short-term investments. In the first quarter of 2025, we generated $11.1 million of cash from operations, and capital expenditures totaled $1.1 million. We expect our 2025 capital expenditures will increase from recent years and may exceed $30 million as we invest in new product introductions, expand capacity, upgrade our manufacturing capabilities, and strengthen our facility infrastructure. In the first quarter of 2025, the company returned $7 million to its shareholders through the payment of $4 million of quarterly dividends and the repurchase of 79,000 shares of our common stock in the open market at an average price of $37.74 per share for a total of $3 million.

[Tom Dineen, Senior VP of Finance, Treasurer, and CFO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Our board of directors declared a $0.18 per share quarterly dividend for shareholders of record as of May 16th, 2025, payable on May 30th, 2025. As a reminder, our quarterly dividend is approximately 40% of net income and therefore varies quarter-to-quarter. Our variable dividend strategy, coupled with our strong debt-free balance sheet, allows us to continually and consistently provide returns to our shareholders without sacrificing our ability to capitalize on opportunities that emerge. As you can see, our strong financial foundation continues to be a key strength and a competitive advantage for us as we continue to push for consistent growth and shareholder returns. Now back to you, Todd.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Thanks, Tom. Throughout the quarter, we continue to operate with discipline and focus as we transition to our new leadership team. The challenges in the firearms market are clear and well-documented across the industry. For example, one data source we look at is retail BI, which aggregates data from over 2,000 retailers across the U.S. This data provides statistically significant insights into market trends, sales performance, and inventory dynamics. In their Q1 2025 report, retail firearm unit sales declined 9.6% year-over-year, with revenue down 11.5%. Handguns, rifles, and shotguns were all under pressure, and adjusted NICS checks declined by 4.2%. Despite these headwinds, I'm proud to report that Ruger remained flat in sales while staying profitable. My mindset as CEO is that although the firearms industry may be cyclical, Ruger does not have to be, and our performance this quarter supports that.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

With continued demand for many of our products, including the RXM pistol, the Ruger American Generation II Rifles, our 10/22 rifles, the LCP MAX pistol, and the Marlin family of lever-action rifles, we are actively working to identify areas where we can increase output while seeking out opportunities in production and driving efficiencies across the company. Our flexible manufacturing model allowed us to adjust production based on demand while maintaining our focus on safety, quality, delivery, and cost. Our biggest opportunities remain new product innovation, where our new product sales accounted for $40.7 million, or 31.6% of net firearms sales for the quarter. As always, new product sales include only major new products that were introduced in the past two years.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

These are high-demand platforms that continue to resonate with customers across a variety of segments, including the RXM pistol, the second-generation Ruger American Rifle, Marlin lever-action rifles, the Ruger 10/22 with carbon fiber barrel, and the fourth-generation Ruger Precision Rifle. We are now looking strategically at areas where we can maximize production to better meet consumer demand while positioning ourselves for long-term growth with innovative new products. Additionally, we continue to leverage our brand through collaborations with other great companies in the industry, such as the RXM pistol with Magpul Industries and the recent Q2 launch of RXD suppressors with Dead Air Silencers. In the coming years, we have plans for expanding availability of existing models while also increasing our speed to market on our product roadmaps to offer greater configurations of recently launched models.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

The execution of this plan will require a capital investment to exceed our historical $20 million per year. We're focused on creating platforms that are not only reliable but versatile and customizable to meet a wide range of consumer needs. We are excited about the pipeline of new releases on the horizon. None of this would be possible without the dedication and expertise of our more than 1,800 employees across the country. I am grateful for their support and openness during this leadership transition and their willingness to embrace my vision for Ruger moving forward. Their craftsmanship, pride in our brand, and commitment to excellence set Ruger apart in this industry. As CEO, one of my top priorities is continuing to invest in our people through training, development, and tools that help them thrive. As we look to the remainder of 2025, we are planning to be in growth mode.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Although we, like the rest of the industry, see weakening consumer demand, tough financial markets, and uncertainty in supply chain availability and costs, we have a solid pipeline of new products, strong demand for recently launched new models, and ample opportunity to scale our operations in alignment with market needs. Our focus is clear: invest in our culture, people, and organizational efficiency, expand our production capabilities to meet product-specific demand, deliver safe, reliable, and innovative products for our consumers, operate with financial discipline and transparency, and maximize shareholder value, continuing to prove that Ruger is a solid investment for the future. We recognize that the broader environment remains dynamic. With our experienced leadership team, strong debt-free balance sheet, reduced inventories at distribution, and a full pipeline of recently launched and soon-to-be-announced new products, Ruger is positioned for success.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

As we continue into 2025 and beyond, we will build a culture of accountability and innovation that will ensure Ruger remains the largest and best commercial firearms manufacturer. Needless to say, we are confident in our ability to meet the moment and shape the future. Operator, can we please have the first question?

[Operator]

Yes, thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone keypad for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile our Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Rommel Dionisio with Aegis Capital. Your line is now open.

[Rommel Dionisio, Head of Research at Aegis Capital]

Hi, good morning, and thanks for taking my question. You made a comment about higher than normal investment in capital expenditure. I just want to think about that philosophically. It sounds like you're prepping for—I don't want to put words in your mouth—but are you prepping for sort of a more aggressive kind of pace in new product launches? I mean, obviously, when you put CapEx into it, that's not just a variable expense. That's investing in the future for a longer-term focus. I wonder if you could just talk about that, just philosophically. Do you expect the pace of new product launches to accelerate as time goes on? How should we think about that? Thanks.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Yes, we do. Rommel, I think the biggest opportunity for us is really the pace of new product introductions. With some of the backlog that we have, making sure that from an investment in machines and capacity expansion, we align those two efforts. We will be more aggressive in terms of the pace of the launches. We have a full pipeline of roadmaps for our product categories. We are going to pace those launches with the appropriate capital to get them to the market faster.

[Rommel Dionisio, Head of Research at Aegis Capital]

Okay. Great. Obviously, new products is not just production; there is marketing and product development that goes along with that. How should we kind of think about that in terms of the impacts to the bottom line over the next several quarters? How should we kind of think about the pace of investments in sales and marketing dollars? Thanks.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

I think the other opportunity for us is, from a sales and marketing perspective, you're seeing some of the relationships in terms of the product launches. I would tell you that as we do more, obviously, we'll need to support that a little bit better, as well as the sales team. We will continue to monitor the current environment and pace our investments appropriately with the current environment. I really think in the short term, it's going to be more capital-related than it is going to be expense-related in the short term. As we grow those introductions, I think you'll see those be parallel in the out months and out years.

[Rommel Dionisio, Head of Research at Aegis Capital]

Okay. Maybe just one final one on new products. Is there a particular category that you kind of foresee a kind of a really significant opportunity? Obviously, not to ask you what you're about to launch here, but just philosophically, is there a particular category of firearms that you really see as a big opportunity for product launches?

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

As you know, we don't talk about kind of future product introductions. I would tell you that we have a robust pipeline across all of our product platforms, and we're prioritizing those based on feedback and market opportunities that we see. We're going to think about it really in terms of the platforms that we have and expanding platforms in the short term.

[Rommel Dionisio, Head of Research at Aegis Capital]

Great. Thanks very much.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Okay. Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Mark Smith with Lake Street. Your line is now open.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street]

Hi, guys. I want to just drill down at first maybe on RXM. As we look at the success of that product launch, can you talk about maybe the impact that it had on ASP during the quarter?

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Good morning, Mark. Yes, absolutely. As you know, that product was launched late last year in December, and it's been an excellent launch for us. I think what you're seeing as we've ramped up and studied that line, it has had an effect on our ASP in the short term. We find that as we get lines built up and get up to a steady state, we'll start to see that from an overall perspective, we're getting more firearms out the door than we were December. There's a little bit of effect on ASP based on that ramp-up. That would kind of help you understand the first quarter ASP relative to maybe what it was in Q4.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street]

Okay. And just kind of staying on RXM, Todd, you talked about kind of platforms a little bit more. Is that one maybe a good product for us to watch, kind of how you expect to build out a platform for firearms going forward?

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Absolutely, Mark. I think it's one of the better opportunities for us in terms of that style of handgun. As we know, people are very passionate about that. Magpul is a great partner, and there's a lot to come in terms of building out around the RXM. That is very important to the future, not just specific to specific models, but the environment around the model through accessories.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street]

Okay. I did just want to ask about kind of if there's any margin pressure as we think about tariffs, other inflationary pressure, maybe anywhere that is anything that is currently maybe hurting you guys or that you're watching on pricing that could impact results here moving forward.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Yeah. I think right now, the increase relative to tariffs, I would tell you that obviously, it's a difficult environment for leadership teams to kind of navigate through tariffs. Generally speaking, because we're made in the U.S. and the majority of our components are sourced in the U.S., in the short term, Mark, I would say, we're not seeing a lot of immediate impacts. That's really because we were thoughtful in terms of the raw materials needed to build out. Because of our balance sheet, we've gone a little bit higher with raw materials to make sure that we're covered in the short term. We are watching it, and we are working with our vendor partners to understand any ancillary supply chain tail that may be caught up in some of the tariffs.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Right now, in the short term, I would tell you we're not seeing much in the immediate future, but we're paying very, very close attention to it.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street]

Okay. I think the last one for me, just as we think bigger picture here about increased capital expenditures this year, given kind of the environment that we're at, NICS being down, maybe no real catalyst for consumers to expand firearm purchases here in the near term, what gives you the confidence to expand the capacity? Is it really more so being efficient and an opportunity to dig in more to this backlog, or do you see something out there on the consumer front and maybe your new product launch that gives you the confidence to spend this money on these capital expenditures?

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Yeah, Mark. I think it's really a combination of both. I think with the roadmaps that we have, we feel very, very good about our launches coming up in the future. Getting them to market faster, I think also in a market that can be a little bit uneasy because of our balance sheet, it gives us the ability to go out where others might not be able to invest. Being aggressive and taking share is something that we're very focused on in what could be an overall down market. We actually feel that we have opportunity to go out in certain categories, be more aggressive, take share, and we have the balance sheet to do that. I would tell you that's how we're thinking about the market today.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street]

Perfect. Thank you, guys.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone. I'm showing no further questions at this time and would now like to turn it back to Todd Seyfert for closing remarks.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

Thank you all again for joining. Looking ahead, innovation remains our core focus. As I stated earlier, our robust pipeline of upcoming products is designed to energize the market and extend our brand reach, providing our consumers with products they desire. We have plans in the works for expanding the availability of key models, increasing the speed to market on our new product roadmaps, and offering more configurations of recently launched new models. In addition, as a U.S.-based manufacturer, we are uniquely positioned to navigate global trade disruptions. Our American-made products insulate us to a degree from current tariff and supply chain uncertainties, though we are monitoring areas where these costs may still have an effect. With that said, we will continue to plan for growth, position ourselves for long-term market leadership, and aggressively manage costs across the business.

[Todd Seyfert, President and CEO at Sturm, Ruger & Company]

We look forward to sharing more details on these initiatives and our roadmap for long-term growth at the upcoming annual meeting on Thursday, May 29th at 9:00 A.M. Thank you again for joining us today and for your continued confidence in Sturm, Ruger & Company. We are in a position of strength, and we're leaning into it. My priority is to keep us focused on innovation, operational excellence, and investing in the people and systems that will drive Ruger's next phase of growth. I look forward to building that strong future together. Thank you, everyone.

[Operator]

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Sarah Colbert, VP of Administration and Incoming General Counsel
• Todd Seyfert, President and CEO

Analysts

• Rommel Dionisio, Head of Research at Aegis Capital
• Tom Dineen, Senior VP of Finance, Treasurer, and CFO at Sturm, Ruger & Company
• Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street