NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2018 / Jewelry company Tiffany & Co. saw a loss on Friday as traders showed concern over the company's same-store sales growth for the fourth quarter. Signet Jewelers, however, saw a gain after seeing big losses last week after it reported its own fourth quarter results which had total comps falling over 5%.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Tiffany & Co.
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=TIF

Signet Jewelers Limited
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=SIG

Tiffany & Co. shares closed down about 5% this past Friday. The high-end jewelry company reported its holiday fourth quarter which appears to have not impressed traders. The company reported strong earnings and some strong guidance but same store sales growth is what had traders concerned. For the fourth quarter, Tiffany reported EPS of $1.67 on revenue of $1.33 billion. This was an increase of 8.5 in net sales and also beat the analyst forecast of EPS at $1.64 and revenue at $1.31 billion. Global same-store sales saw a growth of 3% or just a modest 1% on a constant currency basis, missed expectations of 2.8% same store sales growth on constant currency basis. Looking ahead the company has forecast full-year earnings for 2018 of $4.25 to $4.45. Analysts are waiting for $4.37. CEO Alessandro Bogliolo commented, "We are pleased to be finishing the year with solid sales growth, both geographically and across product categories. Most important, however, is to generate sustainable growth in sales, margins and earnings over the long term."

Access RDI's Tiffany & Co. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=TIF

Signet Jewelers Limited shares closed up 3.01% on Friday on tremendous volume compared to usual. The stock traded about 16.3 million shares compared to an average of almost 2.8 million shares. It was a nice bounce for the stock which saw a 20% loss last Wednesday when it reported its fourth quarter earnings. For the quarter the company saw revenue at $2.29 billion, which beat the estimates of $2.24 billion that analysts expected. Non-GAAP EPS of $4.28 also beat analysts' expectations of $4.25. So why the drop? Total comps fell 5.2% and traders showed worry. However, comparable sales exclude the extra 14th week in the quarter that wasn't present in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2017. Gross margin also dropped 160 basis points and operating margin dropped 350 basis points. Looking ahead the company said it expects a low to mid-single digit percentage decline in comps and that total sales will drop in the range of 2 to 5%. The company also said it would be closing over 200 stores by the end of fiscal 2019 as it restructures.

Access RDI's Signet Jewelers Limited Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=SIG

Our Actionable Research on Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) and Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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