Diamonds may be forever, but profits are apparently much more fleeting.
Take, for example, the case of jewelry retailer Zale
Put into proper context, this past fall quarter has been a difficult one for the industry.
But not all have suffered equally. Tiffany
With the stock's price near its 52-week high, investors want to know whether Zale is ultimately in trouble. So far it doesn't seem to be. Competition from aforementioned sources has been heating up for a while, yet the company did not seem to notice -- it opened 23 new stores and stuck to its upcoming forecast of a 2%-3% climb in comps and 6%-7% revenue increase. That should give investors some confidence that analysts' predicted annual long-term growth of 12% still seems achievable.
Fool contributor Marko Djuranovic does not own shares in any companies mentioned in this article.