Signet Jewelers reports a 9.4% hit to revenue in fiscal Q1

Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE: SIG) is trading up in premarket on Thursday after reporting better-than-expected per-share earnings for its first quarter. 

Signet Jewelers offers encouraging guidance

The stock is gaining also because the diamond jewelery chain issued upbeat guidance for the future. $SIG now forecasts its sales to fall between $6.66 billion and $7.02 billion on up to $11.52 a share of earnings in fiscal 2025. 

Analysts, in comparison, were at $6.82 billion and $10.55 per share, respectively. Virginia C. Drosos - the chief executive of Signet Jewelers said in a press release today:

The New York listed firm spent about $7.4 million on stock buybacks in Q1. Signet Jewelers stock is now up more than 20% versus its year-to-date low in March. 

Signet Jewelers Q1 earnings release

• Lost $52.1 million versus the year-ago $97.4 million
• Per-share loss also narrowed from $1.79 to 90 cents
• Adjusted EPS printed at $1.11 as per the earnings report
• Revenue declined 9.4% year-over-year to $1.51 billion
• Consensus was 85 cents a share on $1.52 billion in revenue

Signet Jewelers reported a 9.2% hit to its same-store sales in North America while the international segment was down an even steeper 17%. Still, CEO Virginia said on Thursday:

What else was noteworthy in $SIG Q1 report?

Signet Jewelers saw its gross margin remain roughly flat at 37.9% in its fiscal first quarter. 

The retail chain for diamond jewelery ended Q1 with $729 million in cash and equivalents up from $656 million a year ago. According to $SIG CFO Joan Hilson:

Earlier this month, analysts at Wells Fargo raised their price target on Signet Jewelers shares to $125 that translates to another 13% upside from here. The retailer does also pay a dividend yield of 1.07% at writing.