Tiffany & Co. the second largest retail luxury jeweler in the world posted a profit for the first quarter that was higher than estimates from Wall Street analysts. The company also increased its forecast for 2014, as increases in prices helped give sales a boost.
Net income was up 50% to end the quarter at $125.6 million equal to 97 cents per share for the three months that ended on April 30. That was compared to the $83.6 million equal to 65 cents per share for the same reporting period one year ago.
Analysts had projected that the jeweler would have a profit of 78 cents per share.
That line features product designs that showcase Roman numerals.
Revenue was up 13% to end the quarter at $1.01 billion, which topped the $956 million that analysts had estimated. Sales at Tiffany stores opened 13 months or longer were up 11%, which beat the projection of analysts of a gain of 4.8%.
The improvement in sales took place across all regions, suggesting a strong trend to continue improvement, said one analyst on Wall Street.
Profit for this year is estimated to be a high of $4.25 per share which is up from their previous forecast for $41.5 per share, said the company on Wednesday.
Tiffany shares were up 9.2% in New York to end the day at $96.30. The increase was the largest one-day jump since August of 2011. Shares of Tiffany have increased by 3.8% in 2014 compared to an increase of 2.1% for the S&P 500 Index.
Revenue was up 8% in the region of the Americas, 17% in the region of Asia-Pacific, 9% across Europe and 20% for Japan.
The gross margin or the earnings that remain after taking out cost of goods, was up to 58.2% of overall sales from 56.3% at the same time one year ago. Analysts had estimated it would be 57.1%.
Tiffany is second only to Cie. Financiere Richemont in luxury jewelry global sales.
