smith  wesson brands inc reported its lowest quarterly sales total in more than 13 years thursday sending shares down more than 10 in afterhours trading smith  wesson swbi reported fiscal firstquarter net income of 33 million or 7 cents a share on sales of 844 million down 693 from 2746 million a year ago after adjusting for spinoff expenses and other costs the firearms maker reported earnings of 11 cents a share analysts polled by factset expected adjusted earnings of 21 cents a share on sales of 1298 million smith  wesson stock closed with a 1 decline at 1343 then fell lower than 12 in afterhours trading following the announcement of the results a level the stock has not fallen to in regular trading since mid2020 the quarterly revenue total was the lowest smith  wesson has reported since the quarter that ended in january 2009 according to factset records the gun company had not reported less than 100 million in quarterly net sales since the january quarter of 2012 smith  wesson chief executive mark smith laid the blame for the big revenue miss on inventory corrections needed in the sales channel due to a decline in demand for guns late in 2021 and early in 2022 “with a pickup in order rates over the past few weeks and a significant drop in unit inventory levels within the channel we believe the inventory correction should now largely be in the rearview mirror” smith said in a statement “we continue to expect strong profitability over the remainder of the year aided by our disciplined approach to cost control and promotional spending” three months ago during the company’s fourthquarter earnings call smith said smith  wesson faced higher costs for materials transportation and labor but that enthusiasm for shooting sports was still solid during the call in june cfo deana mcpherson said “the firearm market has returned to more normalized levels of demand over the past few quarters” mcpherson said she expected this fiscal year to follow typical historical patterns with demand picking up in the second quarter due to the hunting season and the holiday season in the third she said she expected the fourth quarter to produce the biggest share of unit volumes fbi nics background checks a proxy for gun demand are down so far this year when compared with last year smith  wesson shares have declined 246 so far this year as the sp 500 index spx has fallen 165