Blue Nile crests beyond Street with Q2 profit, sales

Seattle – Online jewelry retailer Blue Nile Inc. had profit and sales results in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 that crested beyond Wall Street expectations. Net income rose 4% to $2.3 million from $2.2 million the same quarter a year earlier.

An increase in interest and other income, as well as cost of sales growth that did not match the growth pace of sales, drove the increase in net income. Net sales rose 7% to $113.69 million from $106.57 million.

"We made good progress on our key initiatives which delivered revenue growth and expanded profitability," said Harvey Kanter, Blue Nile chairman, CEO and president. "We remain committed to our strategy to further invest in marketing to drive greater awareness; to optimize analytics to refine pricing and grow our margins; and to leverage scale to source products in ways that provide exceptional quality and value to our customers.”