Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) had been struggling for a few years and the stock had been punished. I am always looking for a name that I can make a profit in, and Tiffany may just be offering that chance as it looks set to move higher following another strong quarter. You may recall that I called for a buy on dips about nine months ago and now the data is improving, which means there may be real momentum here. The stock is now at a 52 week high and is still trading at a reasonable multiple, offering a decent yield of 2% and has a growth story that is still intact. Longer term, I like the name as the economy continues to chug along, especially with the prospect of tax cuts in the United States.
Now of course some weakness persists in some of the operations but Tiffany is demonstrating that it is still a strong, profitable company. So how was the just released Q4? In short, the company's fourth quarter was substantially better than I expected. Tiffany beat on the top and bottom lines. It saw global net sales rise 1% year over year to $1.2 billion. If you take into account currency issues, sales were up 2% from last year. This may not sound all that positive but sales had been declining year-over-year for some time, so this is a win. However comparable store sales were unchanged from last year, on account of some softness in several product categories, but strength in others. There was also some weakness in consumer spending and varying macroeconomic and geopolitical issues challenging the company. Still, revenues beat expectations by a strong $10 million. On top of that net earnings were $158 million or $1.26 per share versus $163 million, or $1.28 per share last year. Excluding items, net earnings were $182 million or $1.45 per share. Income per share was a strong beat of $0.07 versus consensus estimates.
