=Tiffany & Co (TIF) reported earnings on Wed 24 May 2017 (b/o)

Tiffany & Co beats by $0.04, misses on revs; provides outlook commentary for FY18:

• Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.74 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.70; revenues rose 0.9% year/year to $899.6 mln vs the $915.48 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• In the Americas, total sales of $392 million were 3% lower than the prior year and comparable store sales declined 4%. There was no impact from currency translation on reported sales.
• In the Asia-Pacific region, total sales of $257 million were 8% above the prior year, while comparable store sales declined 3%.
• Gross margin (gross profit as a percentage of net sales) increased to 62.0% in the first quarter, from 61.2% a year ago.
• Outlook: Management's outlook for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2018 calls for: Worldwide net sales increasing over the prior year by a low-single-digit percentage (Capital IQ consensus +2.8%) as reported and on a constant-exchange-rate basis (prior guidance mid single digits excluding FX) and (ii) net earnings per diluted share increasing by a high-single-digit percentage over 2016's earnings per diluted share of $3.55 and by a mid-single-digit-percentage over 2016's earnings per diluted share (excluding charges) of $3.75 (Capital IQ consensus +5.3%).  These expectations are approximations and are based on the Company's plans and assumptions, including: (i) worldwide gross retail square footage increasing 2%, net through 10 store openings, seven relocations and seven closings; (ii) operating margin above the prior year entirely due to an expected increase in gross margin, with SG&A expenses increasing slightly faster than sales growth.