Tiffany's Stock Boosted By Profit Beat

Shares of Tiffany & Co. rose 1.6% in premarket trade Thursday, after the high-end jewelry retailer beat fiscal second-quarter profit expectations, offsetting a miss on sales. For the quarter ended July 31, earnings rose to $105.7 million, or 84 cents a share, from $104.9 million, or 81 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 72 cents. Revenue fell to $931.6 million from $990.5 million, below the FactSet consensus of $933 million, as sales in the Americas, Europe and Japan regions fell short of expectations. Same-store sales declined 8%, compared with the FactSet consensus of a 7.8% decline, with bigger-than-expected declines in the Americas and Europe offsetting a better-than-expected performance in Japan. "The global environment continues to reflect well known challenges that we believe have had broad effects on spending by local customers, as well as foreign tourists, especially from China," said Chief Executive Frederic Cumenal. Tiffany said it was maintaining its full-year outlook for sales and EPS. The stock had dropped 9.7% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 had gained 6.4%.