Tiffany's Stock Climbs After Profit Beat, Upbeat Outlook

Shares of Tiffany & Co. surged 1.6% in premarket trade Friday, after the high-end jewelry retailer beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit expectations and provided an upbeat outlook. For the quarter to Jan. 31, net earnings fell to $157.8 million, or $1.26 a share, from $163.2 million, or $1.28 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as impairment charges for loans to diamond mining companies, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.45, above the FactSet consensus of $1.39. Revenue rose 1% to $1.23 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $1.22 billion. Same-store sales were unchanged from a year ago, beating the FactSet consensus for a 1.4% decline, as a greater-than-expected increase in Japan helped offset a bigger-than-expected decline in Europe. For fiscal 2017, Tiffany expects adjusted EPS to increase in the mid-single-digit percentage range over 2016's $3.75, while FactSet's EPS consensus of $3.85 implies 2.7% growth. The stock has rallied 16% year to date through Thursday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 4% and the S&P 500 has gained 6.4%.