American Outdoor Brands Stock Jumps 42% After Margin Beat, Higher Profit Guide

COLUMBIA, Missouri, September 4, 2026, 10:46 a.m. EDT — American Outdoor Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:AOUT) erased nearly eight weeks of losses in 76 minutes Friday. The shares climbed 41.7% to $14.18, returning to their July 13 closing level. Turnover reached 2.8 million shares. A normal recent day brought about 54,000.

A 25.4% sales increase carried an easy comparison. Retailers had shifted roughly $6 million of orders out of the year-earlier quarter, leaving normalized growth of 4.3%. Friday’s stronger evidence sat farther down the income statement: gross profit rose 42.4%, and management increased its annual adjusted EBITDA range.

An easy sales comparison, a harder margin gain

The arithmetic is unusually stark. First-quarter revenue rose by $7.55 million to $37.25 million. The prior-year order shift explains about $6 million, or four-fifths, of that increase. It does not explain the whole quarter.

Consumers kept buying through the channel. Management measured point-of-sale growth of 6% in Outdoor Lifestyle and 3% in Shooting Sports. Outdoor Lifestyle revenue itself increased 34.4% to $21.13 million. Shooting Sports gained 15.3% to $16.13 million.

New products did much of the lifting. Items introduced during the past 24 months supplied 36.1% of sales, against 28.8% one year earlier. Traditional retailers increased orders by 28.4%. E-commerce sales rose 20.1%.

Gross profit makes the quarter harder to dismiss as comparison noise. It increased $5.88 million to $19.74 million, while operating expenses rose $1.17 million. The GAAP loss narrowed to $1.53 million from $6.83 million. Adjusted EBITDA crossed zero, reaching $1.16 million from a $3.12 million loss.

Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fulmer then marked the temporary portion. About 200 basis points of the 630-point margin expansion came from tariff timing, he told analysts on Thursday’s earnings call. Product mix, channel mix and some pricing generated roughly 430 points. That is the part investors paid for Friday.

The 53% quarterly margin will not survive intact. Tariff costs now sitting in inventory should reach cost of sales late in Q3. A full quarterly effect follows in Q4. Management’s full-year margin expectation remains in the mid-to-high 40s.

Friday’s price uses some of the upgrade

Sales guidance stayed at $200 million to $210 million, with roughly 3% growth expected in Q2. The midpoint is 7.5% above fiscal 2026. Adjusted EBITDA guidance rose to $14.5 million to $17.5 million from $13 million to $16 million. Its new midpoint represents 57% annual growth.

Wall Street’s reference points moved Friday morning, too. Lake Street kept a Buy rating and set a $16 target. Roth MKM maintained Buy and lifted its target to $17 from $14. Their $16 average stood 12.8% above the 10:46 price, but only two firms comprise it.

At $14.18, the July 31 share count gives American Outdoor an equity value near $179 million. Cash was $33.3 million, and the revolver had no borrowings. Subtracting that cash produces a simplified value of about $146 million. It equals 9.1 times the new EBITDA midpoint, before a complete enterprise-value reconciliation.

Cash flow needs its own adjustment. Operations generated $13.0 million, compared with a $1.7 million use one year earlier. Tariff-refund receipts and working capital aided that result. Inventory absorbed $8.4 million and finished at $100.3 million.

Management built those goods for hunting season and holiday launches, leaving inventory at 2.7 times Q1 revenue. Chief Executive Brian Murphy also said the 36% new-product share will not persist; 20% to 25% is normal. The next report must pair roughly 3% sales growth with lower margins and clean holiday sell-through. Friday’s price leaves less room for a miss.