What happened
Shares of Signet Jewelers (SIG 4.86%) were falling on Tuesday after the company reported quarterly revenue that missed Wall Street's estimates and said that its dividend will remain suspended for the time being.
As of 12:00 p.m. EDT, Signet's shares were down about 14.5% from Monday's closing price.
So what
Signet said before the market opened on Tuesday that it lost $1.59 per share on an adjusted non-GAAP basis in the quarter that ended on May 2, on revenue of $852.1 million. That was a hit and a miss: While Signet's loss was narrower than the average $2.82 per share that Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected, its revenue fell short of the analysts' $861.74 million consensus forecast.
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Signet had more to say, and for investors, it was a mixed bag. Some highlights:
- While the company had to close nearly all of its stores in March amid the COVID-19 outbreak, same-store sales in February were up "low single digits." For the full quarter, same-store sales were down 38.9%.
- Signet has been able to reopen nearly 1,100 of its roughly 2,600 U.S. stores over the past six weeks. About three-quarters of its reopened stores are fully open to the public; the remainder are fulfilling orders via curbside pickup.
- The company suspended dividends on its common stock for the time being. The upcoming (August) dividend on its preferred shares will be paid "in kind," with shares instead of cash.
Last but not least: After drawing down $900 million from its revolving credit line during the quarter, Signet had $1.07 billion in cash on hand as of May 2, versus long-term debt of $1.336 billion.
Now what
What comes next? It's hard to say given the ongoing uncertainties as local and regional governments in the U.S. and Canada work to reopen their economies. For that reason, Signet declined to give consumer-discretionary investors any guidance for the remainder of the fiscal year.
