The company’s Asia-Pacific region total sales jumped 23% year-over-year to $238 million, with same-store sales up 22% in the quarter. Sales in the European region were up 7% to $104 million and same-store sales were up 2%. In the Americas, sales rose 4% to $417 million and same-store sales rose 1%. Sequentially, Asia-Pacific sales were up 14%, while sales in Europe and the Americas were down by about 6% in each region.
Tiffany raised its full-year EPS guidance from a prior range of $3.50 to $3.60 to a new range of $3.65 to $3.75. The prior guidance came at the end of the second quarter and marked an increase from the firm’s original guidance for the year. The company expects operating profits to rise faster than sales, an improvement in gross margins and a reduction in expenses. The forecast excludes $0.05 per share in first-quarter cost reduction charges.
The company’s gross margins rose from 54.4% to 57.0% in the third quarter, a turnaround from gross margins decline last year compared with the year before. The company attributes the turnaround to “reduced cost pressures, as well as price increases taken earlier in the year.”
But, interestingly, “A shifting sales mix toward higher-priced, lower gross margin products has continued to offset a portion of these benefits.” Given the revenue breakdown, apparently that means that Asian customers are willing to pay more for the higher priced products, but customers in other regions are not. Also, apparently, Tiffany is searching for the right mix of higher-priced and high margin products.
Shares were up about 6.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, at $86.20, well above the current 52-week range of $55.83 to $83.48, so Tiffany is set to post a new 52-week and all-time high. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $85.60 before the results were announced.
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