NEW YORK – Tiffany & Co. is poised to close in the red for the sixth consecutive session, the longest losing streak since December 2016.
Shares are down 10% in the 6-day period, trailing the S&P 500’s decline of 3.5% for the same period. Tiffany is due to report quarterly results June 4, and analysts are projecting revenue to fall about 2% year-over-year. This would be the largest decline since the second quarter of fiscal 2017, according to Bloomberg data.
Weak sentiment for the jewelry company famous for its robin egg blue (“Tiffany blue”) gift boxes shouldn’t come as a surprise. Earlier this month, a U.S. Census Bureau report showed jewelry nominal retail sales fell 6.1 percent in March. This marked the industry’s slowest performance in more than two years.
In April, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Seema Shah wrote that “Tiffany is struggling from political tension, softening tourism, particularly from China, and lower local-market sales, offsetting any upside from its strategic initiatives, as evidenced by poor holiday-season sales and its fiscal 2019 outlook.”
Tiffany has 16 buy ratings, 13 holds, and zero sells. The average 12-month price target for the shares is $111, implying a 25% return potential, Bloomberg data show. Short interest of 10.7% of float is near the recent 52-week high of 11.1%, according to Markit.
Janet Freund is a reporter for Bloomberg News.
