News

New York – Tiffany & Co. grew net earnings 50% in a successful first quarter of fiscal 2014. Net earnings increased 50% to $126 million, up from $84 million in the same period a year earlier, aided by the elimination of pre-tax charges relating to staff and occupancy reduction.

Worldwide net sales grew 13% to $1.01 billion, from $895.48 million. Worldwide same-store sales rose 11% due to growth in most regions.

Toronto – Sears Canada more than doubled its net loss year-over-year to $75.2 million, from $31.2 million in a difficult first quarter of fiscal 2014. Expenses related to the closure of stores and severance of personnel played a major role in the growth of the retailer’s net loss.

Phoenix – PetSmart Inc. posted a 1.3% increase in net income during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, rising to $104 million from $102 million in the first quarter of the prior year. Net sales increased 1.1% to $1.7 billion, but same-store sales missed Wall Street expectations by falling 0.6%.

PetSmart cited a challenging and volatile consumer environment and a competitive market as contributing to its weaker-than-anticipated same-store sales results.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. is going to increase its focus on female customers. In a conference call with analysts discussing the company’s first quarter financial results, CEO Ed Stack said that the women’s segment has the most growth potential of any segment Dick’s targets.

Jacksonville, Fla. - A lack of robust reporting tools that can give a 360-degree view to all aspects of a customer purchase and profile can seriously hinder e-commerce growth and optimization. A new study of 4,346 e-commerce marketers conducted by MarketingSherpa and sponsored by EBay Enterprise company Magneto shows that companies with a testing and optimization strategy based on extensive historical data saw higher median conversion rates than those that test based on intuition, best practices or don't test at all.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. had a generally successful first quarter fiscal 2014 with earnings and sales both rising from the same period a year earlier, although sales missed Wall Street estimates. Net earnings rose 16% to $624 million from $540 million, while net sales increased 2% to $13.4 million from $13.1 million and same-store sales climbed 0.9%.

New York - Foot Locker Inc. is introducing Eastbay Performance Zone at Champs Sports. The new shop-in-shop destination brings together direct-to-customer athletic apparel retailer Eastbay and Champs Sports.  

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears, Roebuck and Co. is launching a new promotional Web series starting reality TV stars Sean and Catherine Lowe and Sears celebrity designer Ty Pennington. Customers and Shop Your Way loyalty members will be asked to design the patio of the couple's new home via this Web series from Sears outdoor living.

New York -- Michaels posted increases on both net and same-stores sales for the first quarter.

Net sales increased 5.9% to $1.05 billion from $993 million during last year’s first quarter. Comparable store sales increased 3.8% driven by a 2.4% increase in the company's average ticket, a 1.3% increase in transactions and a 10 basis point positive impact from deferred custom framing revenue.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. posted a 16% drop in first quarter earnings as costs related to its data breach and the company's troubled Canadian operations continue to take a toll on its overall performance. The retailer also cut its annual profit forecast and released a second quarter projection below Street expectations. On a positive note, Target's same-store sales metric improved from the last quarter.