LOCK<-------Bloomberg then does a further report!!
Staing that in summary that anyone who fiddles with it can easily open the lock, making it useless and expensive.. ``None of the manufacturers are going to buy this lock. It's
too expensive,' said Robin Sharpless, vice president of sales
and marketing for closely held gunmaker H & R 1871 Inc. of
Gardner, Massachusetts. ``This is another example of how sillythe stock market is.'
After falling to its 52-week low of 3/8 on Thursday morning, Saf-T-Lok shares caught the fancy of small investors, climbing as
high as 5 3/4 on Friday. There were 32.2 million shares traded Thursday and Friday alone, in 23,911 transactions averaging just 1,346 shares each.
-------------
BN Saf-T-Lok Shares Soar as Investors Outnumber Customers (Repeat)
Oct 13 1997 7:02
Saf-T-Lok Shares Soar as Investors Outnumber Customers (Repeat)
(Repeating story published Sunday.)
Tequesta, Florida, Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Saf-T-
Lok soared more than 11-fold last week after eight major gun
manufacturers agreed Thursday, at a White House ceremony with
President Clinton, to include a child safety lock with every
handgun sold.
Shares of the Tequesta, Florida-based gun-lock maker shot up
4 5/32 to 4 9/16 on the news, after closing a week earlier at
13/32. About 32.9 million shares traded, more than five times its
6.2 million shares outstanding.
What investors may not realize is that gun manufacturers
plan to spend just $5 to $10 per lock, according to the White
House, compared with a $50 wholesale price for Saf-T-Lok's
combination lock that screws on a handgun's grip.
``None of the manufacturers are going to buy this lock. It's
too expensive,' said Robin Sharpless, vice president of sales
and marketing for closely held gunmaker H & R 1871 Inc. of
Gardner, Massachusetts. ``This is another example of how silly
the stock market is.'
After falling to its 52-week low of 3/8 on Thursday morning,
Saf-T-Lok shares caught the fancy of small investors, climbing as
high as 5 3/4 on Friday. There were 32.2 million shares traded
Thursday and Friday alone, in 23,911 transactions averaging just
1,346 shares each.
Small Investors Buying
Officials at six of the eight major gunmakers that took part
in the White House pledge to include gun locks said in interviews
that they don't plan to buy locks from Saf-T-Lok. The gunmakers
that said they will either buy cheaper locks or design their own
are H & R, Baretta U.S.A. Inc., SigArms Inc., Smith & Wesson
Corp., Glock Inc. and O.F. Mossberg & Sons Inc. Officials of the
other two participants, Taurus Internationl Manufacturing Inc.
and Heckler & Koch GmbH weren't immediately available for
comment.
Aftermarket sales have already been disappointing for the
company. Saf-T-Lok sold just 2,000 of its locks in the year they
have been distributed through more than 1,000 gun dealers and
locksmiths. It has more than 10,000 locks in inventory.
For the first six months of 1997, it lost $673,131, or 12
cents a share, on sales of $33,521.
``It's certainly cheaper for gun manufacturers to use
trigger locks than a lock from Saf-T-Lok,' said John Gardner,
president of Saf-T-Lok, in an interview Thursday. ``We don't have
reason at this time to think they will.'
Overstated Claims
Smith & Wesson, for example, began shipping a $12 trigger
lock made by Master Lock, a unit of Fortune Brands Inc., with
every new consumer handgun as of Sept. 2. It reviewed Saf-T-Lok's
lock last year, and deemed it unreliable.
``At the very least, the claims are overstated,' said Kevin
Foley, vice president of product engineering at Smith & Wesson, a
unit of the U.K.'s Tomkins Plc, which has about 20 percent of the
U.S. handgun market.
In a July 1997 evaluation made at Saf-T-Lok's request, Foley
wrote that its lock ``cannot be relied upon to prevent
unauthorized use of (a) firearm,' though he said it could serve
as a deterrent.
The device, which is unlocked by depressing three unmarked
buttons, offers 1,000 possible combinations. For easier use, a
gun owner can also set it to unlock through a single button push. ``If someone is trying to fiddle with it, it unlocks rather
easily,' said gun expert Foley.
Saf-T-Lok shares are set to be delisted from the Nasdaq
Small Cap Market on Wednesday for failing to meet listing
requirements. Friday afternoon, the company issued a statement
expressing optimism it can avoid delisting.
If delisted, they would be traded on the OTC-BB, an
electronic bulletin board.
--David Evans in Los Angeles through the Princeton newsroom (609)
279-4000/jcn |
