What Happened?
Shares of non-lethal weapons company Byrna (NASDAQ: BYRN) jumped 10.5% in the afternoon session after the company reported impressive fourth quarter 2024 results, which blew past analysts' EBITDA expectations, while sales and EPS came in roughly in line. What stood out was the 57% jump in sales, a big leap that came from opening new stores in key cities and a big retail deal with Sportsman's which gave the company fresh ways to reach buyers. At the same time, Byrna made more products at lower cost, which helped raise its profit margin, and combined with the strong sales growth, EBITDA more than doubled. Looking ahead, Byrna appeared ready to carry the momentum into the rest of the year, with the Compact Launcher launch, rising U.S.-based production capacity, and continued retail expansion likely to unlock further gains. Overall, this was a strong quarter marked by improved execution.
The shares closed the day at $18.08, up 9% from previous close.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Byrna’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 64 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Byrna and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 2 months ago when the stock gained 15.1% on the news that the company reported strong fourth quarter results which blew past analysts' EPS expectations, though sales were roughly in line. Regardless, the sales strength was solid up a whopping 79% y/y, driven by a shift in advertising strategy and increased direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales. Its EBITDA also outperformed Wall Street's estimates by a wide margin. Zooming out, we think this was a solid quarter.
Byrna is down 36.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $18 per share, it is trading 47.4% below its 52-week high of $34.19 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Byrna’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $8,824.
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