When The Entire Jewelry Market Sinks (TIF, ZLC, SIG, NILE, COH)

It is not the norm when you get just about a whole segment of retail issuing earnings warnings all in one very short period of time.  Some of these “warnings” sounded pretty good when you consider the state of the world today.  Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) and Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) are heading south, while Zale Corporation (NYSE: ZLC) is managing some small gains.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is down over 10% around $60.10 after a $60.94 close yesterday and versus a 52-week range of $54.58 to $84.49.  The high-end jeweler announced this morning that the year is going to fall short due to weaker than expected holiday sales of its high-end jewelry. 

Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) is down 7% at $43.77 after a $47.02 close and the 52-week trading range is $30.93 to $48.30.  The company’s news sounds fine on the surface but the devil is in the details: Same Store Sales rose 7.8% with a gain of 9.2% in the United States; the company sees earnings per share growth of 58% to 60% for its fiscal 2012.

Zale Corporation (NYSE: ZLC) is up after noting that its comparable store sales rose by about 5.9%, but shares are now only up 1 cent at $3.31 versus a 52-week trading range of $2.06 to $6.90.

We have not heard a peep out of the online jewelry destination of Blue Nile Inc. (NYSE: NILE), but its shares are down 5% at $37.33 due to fears that Tiffany weakness implies weakness at Blue Nile as well.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is not a jewelry company at all, but investors often try to tie Coach and Tiffany as serving some of the same segments.  Frankly it is a stretch, but its shares are down 1% at $62.21 on a day that the broad market is higher.

JON C. OGG