Tiffany Expects to Beat Profit Estimates

Tiffany & Co. said first-quarter profit will beat analysts’ highest estimates because sales are rising more than expected. Earnings in the quarter ending April 30 will be at least 37 cents a share, the company said. The average estimate of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial was 29 cents a share, although some forecasts were as high as 31 cents. In the year-ago quarter, Tiffany earned 22 cents a share. Sales are expected to rise at least 25% from $272.3 million a year earlier, Tiffany said. Though sales at stores open at least a year have risen at a “low double-digit” percentage rate in Japan, they’ve jumped more than 20% in the U.S., beating expectations, wrote analyst Jeffrey Feiner of Lehman Bros. in a report. Shares of New York-based Tiffany closed up $5.50 at $71 on the New York Stock Exchange.