NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of Tiffany & Co. got a nice lift after the luxury jewelry retailer reported an unexpected sales increase in its third quarter, marking the first gain in eight quarters.
The results, announced Tuesday, came as stronger business in Asia offset declines in the U.S. and Europe.
Still, the luxury retailer also noted in its release that the increased security and protests near the home and office on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue of President-elect Donald Trump has had “some adverse effect” on customer traffic at its flagship.
And Tiffany says it doesn’t know when the situation will improve. The store represents less than 10 percent of worldwide net sales for the latest period.
“We are encouraged by some early signs of improvement in sales trends, but we clearly need more positive data over time before this can be considered an inflection point,” said Frederic Cumenal, CEO of Tiffany in a statement.
The luxury jeweler’s profit rose to $95.1 million, or 76 cents per share. Sales rose 1.2 percent to $949.3 million.
The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 67 cents per share and six analysts expected revenue of $923.2 million.
In the Americas region, total sales fell 2 percent to $417 million on softness in spending by U.S. customers while same-store sales also fell 2 percent.
Total sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 4 percent to $247 million with strong growth in China. Still, same-store sales in the region fell 7 percent.
Sales in Europe fell 10 percent to $104 million, with same-store sales falling 14 percent. Other sales rose 18 percent to $31 million.
Looking ahead, the New York-based company continues to expect a full-year drop in sales and profit as it continues facing a tough market.
Tiffany shares rose $5.42, or 6.9 percent, to $83.56 in morning trading. Its shares are up more than 4 percent in the last 12 months.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (https://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on TIF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TIF
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