Stock Prices of Gas Detector Makers Jump

Shares of two companies that make carbon monoxide detectors rose Tuesday after medical authorities found that tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis died from the poisonous gas.

Trading in the shares of First Alert Inc. and American Sensors Inc. was unusually heavy after examiners in Southampton, N.Y., reported that Gerulaitis’ death Sunday was caused by fumes from a broken propane heater. Gerulaitis, 40, died at a friend’s beach home in the Long Island resort town.

Shares of First Alert, based in Aurora, Ill., rose $2 to $27 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading of 227,300 shares, swamping the daily average of 47,600 shares in the past three months.

American Sensors, headquartered in Markham, Canada, jumped $1.375 to $20.25 on trading of 141,800 shares, almost nine times the daily average of 16,200 shares in the past three months.

“All this unfortunate, untimely death serves to do is draw awareness to the risks associated with carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Michael Rohl, First Alert’s corporate controller and director of investor relations.

Sellers of detectors were quick to call attention to the hazards of carbon monoxide. First Alert and one of its Canadian distributors, BRK Brand Canada, each issued press releases describing the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning and First Alert’s carbon monoxide detector.

It isn’t the first time investors connected tragedy with potential profits. Basketball great Magic Johnson said on Nov. 7, 1991, that he was infected with the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The next day, shares of Carter-Wallace Inc., maker of Trojan condoms, rose sharply.