Tiffany misses sales estimates on weak spending by Chinese tourists

(Reuters) - Tiffany & Co missed estimates for quarterly same-store sales on Wednesday, blaming lower-than-expected spending by mainland Chinese tourists at its U.S. and Hong Kong stores.

The company's shares fell 5.7 percent to $99 in pre-market trading.

Signs of weakening growth in China, against the backdrop of a trade spat between Beijing and Washington, have spooked luxury companies that depend heavily on the country for their sales.

Tiffany's comparable-store sales, excluding the impact of currency changes, rose 3 percent, while analysts on average were expecting a rise of 5.3 percent, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company also left its full-year profit forecast unchanged on Wednesday stoking fears that the start of the holiday season may not be going as well as expected for the high-end jeweler.

 

The company's net income fell to $94.9 million, or 77 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Oct. 31, from $100.2 million, or 80 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue rose 3.7 percent to $1.01 billion.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 77 cents per share on revenue of $1.05 billion.

Tiffany forecast full-year profit between $4.65 and $4.80 per share. Analysts on average had estimated a profit of $4.83 per share.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)