The growing trend toward wealth inequality means booming business for luxury retailers. In testament to this, high end jewelry and luxury goods retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) reported a slight third quarter earnings miss on Tuesday November 25th, but shares are up more than 2% on positive forward guidance including no change to full-year revenue forecasts.
Details on Tiffany & Co. third quarter earnings
The iconic luxury jeweler reported a solid $959.6 million in third quarter revenue, a 5% increase compared to third quarter 2013, but still fell short of analyst consensus $970 million forecast. The firm’s net income for the quarter came in at $38.3 million, representing 29 cents per share, a 60% drop off from last year’s third quarter $95 million (73 cents per share) in net earnings. Taking out special items such as a pre-tax loss of $94 million related to debt repayment, the retailer’s net earnings were up by 5% to $99 million, or 76 cents per share, an earnings-per-share figure just below the 78-cent analyst consensus.
Tiffany is maintaining its full-year 2014 revenue forecast and also reiterated that it expects $4.20 to $4.30 in full-year earnings per share. The projection is based on a 35% tax rate and around $250 million in capital expenditures.
Separately, Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) also declared a 38-cent per-share dividend to be paid on January 12 to shareholders of record as of December 22.
Of note, the high-end luxury goods purveyor also has $278 million of the $300 million share-repurchase program that was approved in March of 2014 remaining, so there’s plenty of dry powder to support the share price.
Statement from Tiffany CEO
“We were pleased with overall sales performance, especially in light of economic and geopolitical challenges around the world,” Tiffany chief Michael Kowalski said in a statement Tuesday morning. “We continue to pursue exciting opportunities in marketing, merchandising and store expansion to support longer-term growth, and are especially encouraged with initial results from the recent launch of our Tiffany T jewelry collection.”
