Coach Flies First Class

Who needs to go first class when the ride is so much smoother in Coach (NYSE:COH)? Its leathery skin face is cracking into another smile after the accessory specialist finds itself raising its bottom-line guidance.

The company is looking to earn $0.32 a share in its current quarter and $1.71 a share for all of fiscal 2005. Those targets are a few pennies different than the outlook that the company had issued just last month.

Couple that with its invitation to join the Standard & Poor's 500 Index two weeks ago, and it's like going to the royal ball and scoring a killer gown to wear to the soiree.

It's hard to believe that this company was the byproduct of a Sara Lee (NYSE:SLE) spinoff. That is, of course, unless you know that Sara Lee is about more than just dessert, with its varied product lines including Hanes underwear, Jimmy Dean sausages, and Ball Park hot dogs.

Coach shares hit an all-time high earlier this summer, and perhaps it's a good sign for the economy that demand for the company's high-end leather handbags and accessories is booming. Sales were up a staggering 39% this past quarter, and if you're tracking the company's fiscal 2005 profit-per-share expectations, that figure has gone from $1.64 to $1.68 to its current resting spot of $1.71 over the past four months.

The gains aren't exactly genre specific as slumping leather retailer Wilsons The Leather Experts (NASDAQ:WLSN) has seen its sales slide by 2% this year through the end of August. Brookstone (NASDAQ:BKST), a more upscale player, is faring better as it too raised its earnings guidance last month while sporting double-digit sales growth.

So classy stocks seem to be living it up in the lap of luxury these days. It makes me want to check back with Nathan Slaughter's Sparkle for Your Portfolio? article from last week to look into a few key performers a little closer. So I'll meet you for breakfast tomorrow -- at Tiffany's (NYSE:TIF).

Are you living in the lap of luxury, or are you ready to kick it in the shins? Can you give up your high-end gadgetry? Is it worth it? All this and more in the Moving Out of the Fast Lane discussion board.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz can't recall ever owning a Coach product. It's not that sad, is it? He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story.