Colt's Patent Firearms and Colt Defense are in a way, 2 different companies. There also is, or was, a Colt Crucible Metals Division. Colt Firearms couldn't make money on a bet. They have had the dubious honor of making some of the worst business decisions involving firearms in modern history. The "Colt 2000" being one of them. They also poured money into a "Smart Gun" that no one wanted, and were left holding the bag financially on that unpolished turd.
What has kept their nuts out of the financial meat grinder has been Colt Defense. Basically every AR-15 / M-16 that Colt makes is manufactured by Colt Defense, a separate division. They are a good product, and fortunately for the civilian market, all the parts in a Colt AR-15 are the same Mil-Spec as the parts that go into all of their government M-16's, save of course the full auto sear along with it's accompanying "happy switch". When Colt makes something good it almost seems like it's by mistake. Even their 1911 models are not used much, if at all by steel and IDPA competitors. Most shoot Springfield's, Wilson's, STI's, and a ton of other aftermarket 1911's.
They did have a market for the Single Action Army with the explosion of Cowboy Action Shooting, along with the giant success of SASS. Then they came out with a grade "B" version of the SAA called the "Colt Cowboy". A somewhat semi-polished turd that never sold very well. They seem to just flounder along, surviving on whatever scraps Colt Defense allows them to have. It's really too bad because at one time they produced some of the finest guns on the market. They just could never seem to keep a good thing going. Bill T.