Ruger Third-Quarter Sales Rise 16.5% to $147.6 Million, Net Income Up 267%

Sturm, Ruger & Co. posted third-quarter 2026 net sales of $147.6 million, up 16.5 percent from $126.8 million a year earlier, the company said in a Nov. 4 release. Diluted earnings were $0.36 a share against $0.10 in the third quarter of 2025, and net income rose 266.9 percent to $5.8 million.

Gross margin widened to 20.7 percent from 15.1 percent, which Ruger attributed to cost control, product mix and operational execution. Adjusted earnings, which strip out legal, advisory and other costs tied to stockholder matters, were $0.44 a share, and adjusted EBITDA reached $14.3 million, up 401.9 percent. Average selling price for the quarter was about $377. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 a share, payable December 4 to holders of record November 20, about 40 percent of adjusted net income.

The Form 10-Q filed the same day puts unit figures beside the dollars. Ruger shipped 402,300 firearms in the quarter, up from 361,600 a year earlier, and produced 434,300, up from 344,900 and 4 percent more than in the second quarter. Distributors ordered 290,800 units worth $70.2 million, close to the 286,500 ordered in the third quarter of 2025, and the unit backlog stood at 601,200 at the end of the quarter, against 418,000 a year earlier. Net of federal excise tax, the average price of units shipped was $348.

Retail demand ran behind shipments. Estimated sell-through from distributors to retailers was 355,800 units in the quarter, down 4 percent from 370,600, while background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), as adjusted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, rose 2 percent to 3.33 million. Over nine months, sell-through is up 5 percent against a 3 percent rise in adjusted checks. Inventory built through the year: distributors held 221,400 Ruger units at the end of the quarter and the company 82,600, up 59,100 and 15,100 units since December, though the combined 304,000 remains below the 345,800 of a year earlier.

New products drove a quarter of the business. Sales of major products introduced in the past two years, which the filing lists as the RXM pistol, Marlin 1894 lever-action rifles through June, Glenfield rifles, Harrier rifles, the Red Label III shotgun and, in the first quarter only, the American Centerfire Rifle Generation II, reached $99.5 million, or 24 percent of firearm sales, for the nine months.

The release ties the quarter to the product cuts announced in October, which covered the LCR, SP101, GP100 and Bearcat revolvers and set final 2026 runs for 15 other lines. The suspended families represent about $25 million of revenue and generate “minimal to no profitability,” the company said, and suspension “does not necessarily mean permanent discontinuation.” Ruger intends to evaluate opportunities to redesign and reposition select products. Ruger also brought its new Oracle enterprise resource planning platform online in the middle of the quarter, and the 10-Q says the changeover, with the timing of third-quarter shipments, slowed cash collections. Cash from operations for the nine months was $24.2 million, down from $38.8 million.

Nine-month net sales were $447 million, up 13 percent from $395 million, and diluted earnings were $0.79 a share against a loss of $0.48 a share in the same period of 2025. Costs of the proxy contest with Beretta Holding, resolved by a May 4 agreement, were $1.8 million in the quarter and $6.3 million for the nine months, and a February reduction in force cost $3.2 million in severance, the filing says. Ruger ended the quarter with $101.4 million in cash and short-term investments, no debt and a current ratio of 3.0 to 1. It paid $6.4 million in dividends and bought back no shares. Capital spending was $8.9 million through September. The release expects about $30 million for the year, while the 10-Q gives a range of $20 million to $30 million.

Todd Seyfert, president and chief executive officer, said the results “reflect continued operational progress” and that the company is “doing what we said we would do” on its 2026 Plan. Ruger discussed the quarter on a webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET on November 4, 2026, and the next dated step is the dividend payment on December 4, 2026.