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Tiffany is surging
(Getty Images/Ethan Miller)
Tiffany & Co. shares are up as much as 12% after the company posted profits that beat analysts' estimates, and signaled plans for expansion.
The luxury jeweler reported diluted earnings per share of $0.81, down 17%, but beating forecasts for $0.69, according to Bloomberg.
Tiffany posted sales of $962.4 million, topping estimates for $919 million. Sales dropped 5% year-over-year, but excluding the foreign-currency impact, sales rose 1%.
CEO Frederic Cumenal wrote in the statement: “We started the year facing well-known challenges from both global economic uncertainties and the effect of a strong U.S. dollar on the translation of foreign-denominated sales into dollars and on foreign tourist spending in the U.S., as well as a difficult sales comparison in Japan."
"Despite those factors, our first quarter results for net sales, as well as for gross margin and net earnings, were somewhat better than we anticipated. First quarter highlights also included the continuing success of the stylish TIFFANY T jewelry collection, as well as the launch of our extraordinary CT60™ watch collection.”
Cumenal said the company plans to grow existing jewelry collections and open new stores "in a number of important markets."
During the quarter, the company opened two stores in China — in Shanghai and Hangzhou — and one in Miami.
This chart shows the rise in shares at the open on Wednesday:
(Google Finance)
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