By
Rick Aristotle Munarriz
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November 6, 2009
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Welcome back to Growthsville, Blue Nile (Nasdaq: NILE ) .
The high-end online jeweler delivered better-than-expected results last night. Net sales climbed by 2% to $66.9 million, as improving margins pushed profits 10% higher to $0.17 a share.
These may not appear to be scintillating numbers, but it's the first time that Blue Nile has delivered year-over-year top-line growth in more than a year.
Sure, Blue Nile wouldn't have turned around without a healthy 28% spike in international sales. Stateside revenue actually dipped slightly during the period. However, we're just starting to get out of a brutal recession. Diamond rings and gold necklaces aren't supposed to be selling well. Analysts don't foresee real-world jewelers Tiffany (NYSE: TIF ) and Signet (NYSE: SIG ) growing when they post their quarterly results later this month.
As for Blue Nile, the real excitement centers on the current quarter. The e-tailer beefed up its guidance in calling for a profit of $0.35 to $0.39 a share on $100 million to $109 million in net sales for the holiday quarter. That's the double-digit growth that investors figured they would be getting when they bought into Blue Nile a couple of years ago. Nice seasonal timing.
The engagement-ring specialist has had its ups and downs. It didn't thrive during the recession the way Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN ) did. Consumers didn't associate Blue Nile with jewelry markdowns the way shoppers approach Bidz.com (Nasdaq: BIDZ ) and Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK ) for deals.
It's better that way. Blue Nile was able to remain profitable during the market lull without sacrificing its brand's panache and premium positioning. That may seem like little more than bragging rights at the moment, but it will pay off once the high-end jewelry customer is ready to bling something shiny and new again.
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