What happened Once upon a time, American Outdoor Brands (NASDAQ: AOUT) was Smith & Wesson, the gunsmith. Then, it expanded beyond guns to build an outdoor camping and sporting equipment business. And then it spun off its firearms division (giving back its name, Smith & Wesson Brands) to focus entirely on sporting goods. Today, that's looking like a pretty smart decision, as American Outdoor Brands shares soar 15% through 10:40 a.m. EST after the company reported blowout earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. Image source: Getty Images. So what Analysts had forecast that American Outdoor Brands would earn just $0.25 per share, pro forma, in fiscal Q2, on sales of $61 million. Instead, the company reported last night that Q2 earnings were $0.77 on sales of $79.1 million -- a sizable earnings beat. Sales for the quarter grew 66% year over year, with e-commerce sales in particular more than tripling. Gross margin climbed 690 basis points to 46.9%, and, while actual earnings as calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) didn't quite achieve the heights of the company's pro forma number, the company did earn $0.52 per share, reversing its year-ago GAAP loss. Now what Looking ahead to the remainder of this fiscal year, American Outdoor Brands now projects that it will end fiscal 2021 with sales of between $235 million and $245 million, earning GAAP profits of between $0.52 and $0.70. As regards the pro forma numbers that Wall Street analysts tend to fixate upon, American Outdoor Brands projects that adjusted profits will range from $1.49 per share to $1.67 -- $1.52 per share at the midpoint of the range, and therefore 74% above the $0.91 that Wall Street has forecast. No wonder investors are pleased. 10 stocks we like better than American Outdoor Brands, Inc.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and American Outdoor Brands, Inc. wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source