Smith & Wesson reports Q1 FY27 2027 net sales up 32%

Smith & Wesson Brands (NASDAQ: SWBI ) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday.

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For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit Access the full call at Summary Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. reported strong financial performance in Q1 FY27 with net sales up 32%, adjusted EBITDA up 86%, and EPS at $0.06 compared to a loss last year.

The company gained market share in both handguns and long guns, with shipments significantly outpacing the market, driven by demand for concealed carry products and new full-size M&P lines.

Channel inventories remained flat, signaling strong retail pull-through, while internal inventory adjustments prepared for seasonal demand increases.

Smith & Wesson's professional channel, including law enforcement and international shipments, showed high double-digit growth, supported by investments in the Smith & Wesson Training Academy.

Future guidance remains positive, with expected revenue growth of 5% to 7% for FY27, and anticipated Q2 sales to be approximately 10% higher than last year, supported by steady demand and strategic investments in operational infrastructure.

Full Transcript OPERATOR Good day, everyone, and welcome to Smith & Wesson Brands, Incorporated First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Financial Results Conference Call.

This call is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Kevin Maxwell, Smith & Wesson's General Counsel, who will give us information about today's call.

Thank you.

You may begin.

Mark Smith, President & CEO Thank you, Kevin, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today.

As we expected, we are off to an excellent start to fiscal 2027 with strong first quarter performance.

Continued solid demand for our products in both the consumer and professional channels in Q1 were a direct result of our purposeful focus on innovation, the strength of our industry partnerships, operational execution, and the power of the iconic Smith & Wesson brand.

We delivered significant year-over-year increases in all key financial metrics, including 32% growth in net sales, 86% growth in adjusted EBITDA, and an increase in EPS to $0.06 from a loss of $0.08 last year.

The firearm market continues to be solid, with overall NICS up 7.7% over our first quarter last year, and with our shipments up nearly 20% in the same time period, we once again outperformed, demonstrating that strong consumer preference for our leading product portfolio is driving sustained share growth and continued positive momentum into FY27.

From a product line perspective, we gained share in both handguns and long guns in the quarter.

Our handgun unit shipments into the sporting goods channel increased nearly 17% while NICS was up only about 5%.

Importantly, and continuing the trend from FY26, channel inventories were flat during the same period, indicating strong pull-through and meaningful share gains at the retail counter.

This was driven by strong demand for our semi-auto pistols across the board, including our market-leading concealed carry products and new products within our full-size M&P lines.

Long guns also performed well in the quarter with our unit shipments into the sporting goods channel increasing almost 22%, well ahead of the 10% increase in NICS.

And within the long gun category, channel inventories of our products were actually down 5,000 units during the period, again indicating solid share gains at retail.

Growth in long guns was led by the MSR category and weighted to May and June ahead of state-level regulatory changes.

But we also saw strong growth in our 1854 lever-action rifles, with shipments doubling compared to last year, a great indicator of our increasing foothold in the hunting segment of the long gun market, where we have historically had limited exposure.

The breadth of our growth in Q1 was a further testament to our ability to react to market shifts through our flexible manufacturing model, consumer preference for our brand and innovative product line, and the strength of our relationship with industry partners.

We had success not only across all of our product lines but also across our customer segments.

Within the consumer channel, we saw strong double-digit gains in wholesale, big box, and buying groups.

In addition, we drove high double-digit growth in law enforcement and international shipments, a strong indication of professional endorsement of the product lines and our full capabilities to service these brave men and women not only with our firearms, but with our world-class Smith & Wesson Training Academy, which continues to be a competitive differentiator.

Moving now to ASPs, we continued the trend of outperforming in unit shipments versus the broader market while simultaneously demonstrating resiliency in our pricing.

Sustained demand for our core products throughout the period limited our need for promotions in the quarter and, combined with new products accounting for 35% of our shipments, our ASPs continued to move higher even in the typically slower summer months.

Handgun ASPs held steady sequentially versus Q4 and were up nearly 9% year over year, while long gun ASPs increased nearly 11% sequentially and over 18% year over year.

Finally, a quick few notes on inventory.

As I mentioned earlier, channel inventories were flat and, combined with our strong results, indicate we continue to see healthy pull-through of our products at the retail counter.

At the end of Q1, our internal inventory was $181 million, down from $203 million a year ago and up from $156 million at the end of Q4.