Walmart Cancels the Gun Show
“Not in our backyard!” says Walmart CEO, Doug McMillan! The world’s biggest discount retailer has changed the landscape of the firearms industry by holstering its weapons and no longer selling certain types of ammunition.
In case you missed it, more mass shootings recently struck the US. One was in a Walmart parking lot in El Paso, Texas, and the others were in Ohio. Unwilling to put a price on human life and charge that price to customers over a shopping counter, Walmart has taken matters into its own hands. Aside from banning certain types of ammo, it’s told customers not to bring their guns into stores and will even talk to a brick wall of the White House to argue for background checks.
Investors who fancy their chances with “sin stocks” should know what they’re signing up for; controversy! American Outdoor Brands, Sturm, and Ruger make for popular picks, offering pure plays on an industry which has its long-term prospects etched into the United States Constitution. However, in the wake of persistent mass shootings, many wish they could scribble a line through that second amendment.
As a result, investors have substituted their gun stocks for defense stocks. Titans like Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics all kit out the US military, making a lot more than handguns and coming in ready-made baskets called ETFs.
One thing is for sure, Walmart wants nothing to do with the business. It’s debatable whether it’s on target with this latest market move and will lower gun crime, or if it will only lower its own profits. There’s a second-order of effects here as well as more vulnerable gun stocks dip and lie low as Walmart takes its stand. That provides an opportunity for the able and willing investor to restock if they dare.
