Strong dollar stings Tiffany's results

NEW YORK - The strong dollar pressured Tiffany's (TIF) fiscal second-quarter sales, and its performance missed analysts' expectations. The luxury jeweler also lowered its full-year earnings forecast.

The stock slipped in morning trading Thursday.

Tiffany earned $104.9 million, or 81 cents per share, for the period ended July 31. A year earlier the New York company earned $124.1 million, or 96 cents per share.

Earnings, excluding an impairment charge for a loan to a diamond mining company, were 86 cents per share, missing Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 90 cents per share.

Revenue fell to $990.5 million from $992.9 million, also missing analysts' estimates. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.01 billion in revenue.

CEO Frederic Cumenal said in a written statement that the impact from the strong dollar was more significant than initially expected.

Worldwide sales at stores open at least a year dipped 1 percent. On a constant exchange rate basis, the figure rose 7 percent, with growth in Japan, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The results were also helped by better sales of fashion gold jewelry and statement jewelry.

Tiffany said that it now foresees full-year earnings coming in 2 percent to 5 percent below last year's $4.20 per share. It previously said that it expected minimal growth from fiscal 2014's $4.20 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet predict earnings of $4.24 per share.

Shares of Tiffany & Co. declined $1.22, or 1.4 percent, to $83.86 in morning trading Thursday. Its shares are down 18 percent over the past year.