Stock Alert: Signet Jewelers Shares Shine Following Better Outlook

(RTTNews) - Shares of diamond jewelry retailer Signet Jewelers Limited (SIG) jumped 40.2% on Thursday after the company raised its fourth-quarter and full-year guidance. The trading volume was almost ten-fold at 25 million shares compared with the average volume of 2.5 million.

The company, whose brands include Kay Jewelers, Zales, and Jared, said its holiday season sales for the 9 weeks ended January 4, was up 1.6% over the year-ago levels.

For the fourth quarter, Signet raised its adjusted EPS guidance to the range of $3.44 - $3.52, better than the analysts' estimate of $3.11. The earlier outlook was for $3.01- $3.16. Net sales are now expected at $2.12 billion, above its previous guidance of $2.03 billion to $2.07 billion. Analysts foresee sales of $2.07 billion.

Outlook for Non-GAAP EPS for the full-year was raised to $3.61 - $3.69 from $3.11 - $3.29. This compares with the Street estimate of $3.26. Signet expects to report revenue for the full-year at $6.1 billion, which is higher than the previous guidance range of $6.01 billion - $6.05 billion. Analysts' consensus estimate remains at $6.06 billion.

Signet has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.37 per share for the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2020, payable on February 28, 2020, to shareholders of record on January 31, 2020, with an ex-dividend date of January 30, 2020.