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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Gun stocks are surging, even as America mourns another mass shooting and Hillary Clinton vows to restrict sales.
Popular gun companies Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger are among the best investments in 2015.
Smith & Wesson has skyrocketed over 80 percent this year. To put that in perspective, if the stock were in the S&P 500, it would be the second best performer this year, behind only Netflix.
Rival gunmaker Sturm Ruger isn't far behind. It's up nearly 70 percent in 2015 alone.
This stellar performance comes in a year when many stocks have tanked. Apple isn't even positive for the year, and it's shaping up to be the worst year for stocks overall since 2008, the year of the financial crisis.
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The reason investors like gun stocks is simple: people are buying a lot of guns.
Sales hit a record in 2014.This year is expected to be similar.
Sturm Ruger does over half a billion in gun sales a year now. That's almost double what it did in 2010. Smith & Wesson is on track for over $600 million in sales this year, according to FactSet. That's a 50 percent spike from its 2010 sales.
Gun sales took off after President Obama entered the White House on fears that he would put more restrictions on firearms purchases. However, there hasn't been any restrictive gun legislation at the national level, and sales have continued to climb.
What is wrong with us that we can't stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers.
–Hillary Clinton at a campaign stop in Florida
Clinton's calls for tighter controls aren't hurting gun stocks
Gun stocks retreated a little at the end of last week as America mourned another mass shooting at a community college in Oregon and a number of politicians, especially 2016 Democratic presidential hopefuls like Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley, called for stricter gun control measures.
"What is wrong with us that we can't stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers," Clinton said Friday at a campaign stop in Florida. She has vowed to use executive action if Congress won't act.
Though Clinton's promise to clamp down on "price gouging" drug companies sent biotech stocks tumbling recently, her comments on guns aren't having the same impact.
On Monday, both gun stocks jumped again — up about 3 percent.
Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger stocks have given investors 300 percent of gains in the past five years. That's over four times better than the return of the S&P 500. It's even hotter than Apple's 165 percent return over the same period.
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