Investopedia: Tiffany Continues To Execute At A Higher Level

As premier jewelery retailer Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) continues to beat expectations, it's getting harder to argue that the Street overvalues the company's brand and future cash flows. Not only is the company outperforming in difficult markets like Europe, but efforts to improve operating performance seem to already be delivering results. Factor in an eventual improvement in the Americas and future growth in businesses like watches, and I can understand why Tiffany is a popular pick. I'm personally not willing to chase Tiffany up at these levels (particularly when it seems like 20% to 30% pullbacks are routine), but it's hard to argue with a company that is performing at a pretty high level despite what should be a tough global environment.

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Investopedia: Tiffany Logs A Big Beat, But Fiscal 2014 Still A Work In Progress

I suspect that Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) is over-hyped as a bellwether for the consumer confidence of the well-to-do, but the reality is that it's still a large and well-followed retailer. To that end, the strong comp growth here this quarter was a welcome change of pace for what has been a relatively unimpressive run in retail.

First Quarter Results Come In Strong
Tiffany certainly did better than Wall Street's sell-side expected this quarter. Even so, management kept a lid on guidance – likely a prudent move given a spate of disappointing recent guide-downs and uncertainties over product repositionings.

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Seeking Alpha: Expensive And Hard To Own, Natura Cosmeticos Is Still A Great Brazil Play

Brazil may be a popular topic in international investing, but it's actually not all that easy to invest in some of the best Brazilian growth stories. Such is the case with Natura Cosmeticos (NUACF.PK). Natura is a true Brazilian success story and a fantastic play on the Brazilian consumer, but the U.S. ADR has virtually no liquidity and Brazil is an "institutions only" market for foreign investors. That said, there are readers who can buy these shares and even if you cannot own Natura today, it's a stock well worth following if you want to know more about what's going on in Brazil beyond the government-reported statistics.

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Expensive And Hard To Own, Natura Cosmeticos Is Still A Great Brazil Play

Investopedia: Aspirational Shoppers Trip Up Tiffany

When you're a public company, investors' appetite for growth has to be taken into account when it comes to business strategy. I suspect this is part of the reason so many publicly-traded luxury brands have spent the last two decades targeting that "mass affluent" market. While that approach has generally earned these companies quite a lot of money on balance, it may have been part of what tripped up Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) this quarter. Even with the disappointment, though, this is still not what you'd call a cheap stock.

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Investopedia: Is It Time To Hitch Up The Coach?

As a seller of something that many people want, but nobody really needs, Coach (NYSE:COH) is an interesting economic barometer in its own right. Like so many other semi-luxury or luxury brands, Coach knows how much of its future growth rests in China, but the company must also find that sustainable niche of "affordable luxury" that is so hard to maintain in the North American market. While economic weakness is going to have a disproportionate impact on Coach, this stock is a name to watch as a rebound play for when conditions and sentiment turn more positive.

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Investopedia: Coach Still Flying First Class

Some things never change, including consumer behavior. Maybe the great housing boom/bust did force a few consumers to change their ways, but as the economy has rebounded, the demand for high-end consumer goods has gone along for the ride. As one of the more popular brands around, Coach (NYSE:COH) continues to deliver solid financial performance. 

On Target Performance 

Even with the significant impact of the Japanese earthquake, Coach once again managed to modestly beat estimates. Revenue rose 14% this quarter, fueled by direct-to-consumer sales growth of 15%. North American comps were up about 10% (and ahead of expectations), while Japanese sales fell 9% in local currency. Such was the impact of currency moves, though, that Japanese sales were actually flat on a reported (dollars) basis.

Coach did not perform quite as well on the profitability side. Like so many companies, Coach is seeing pressure from currency, materials, shipping, and so forth. Gross margin declined about 140 basis points, while operating income (on a non-GAAP basis) rose 12%. Still, it is clearly worth noting that at over 29%, Coach produces exceptionally good margins (as well as very high returns on assets and capital). 

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Investopedia: Central European Distribution - From Russia, With Disappointment

Although the Russian character is suffused with a grim fatalism, there is also a strong history of resilience in the face of adversity and an unwillingness to back away from a challenge. Though Central European Distribution (Nasdaq:CEDC) is technically an American company, this leading producer and seller of vodka in Russia and Poland may do well to take a page from its customers. While CEDC is a liquor company with real prospects for the future, it has just as many real problems in the present. 


A Bad End To A Hard Year
For much of 2010, Central European Distribution has better resembled the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Missed, and then lowered, guidance had been an issue throughout 2010 and there was always something else to blame - a cold winter, a hot summer, a tragic plane crash that killed Poland's president, other important government figures, and 96 people in total.

Maybe it should not have been surprising, then, that CEDC would miss again in the fourth quarter. Revenue dropped 11% for the final quarter and certainly missed estimates. This time the company pointed to production problems during the peak selling season as the culprit, but the company did note that volumes increased in Russia by 8% and the company stabilized (and then reversed) market share losses in Poland.


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No Recession In High-End Goods

The regular cornerstone franchises of most American malls like Dillards (NYSE:DDS) or J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) may not be seeing great consumer interest, but the luxury side of retail seems to be making a solid comeback. This is why, with an update on third-quarter sales Thursday, it's pretty clear that French luxury giant LVMH (Nasdaq:LVMUY.PK) is once again doing well among the well-to-do. 

Double Digits Across the Board
While LVMH only gave a partial update (sales, not profits), that update was nonetheless very positive. Total sales climbed nearly 24% as reported, with organic sales growth of 14%. That was a fair bit better than the already-healthy analyst expectation of 11% organic growth.


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A Market That Will Drive You To Drink

Amidst all of the gloom, doom and boom in the world these days, there is one inevitable constant. People drink. People drink to celebrate, to mourn, to console, to toast, and sometimes, just to pass the time. Though no business is truly immune to economic conditions, investors can look towards alcohol companies as a relative source of stability in very unstable times. 

Beer
AmBev (NYSE:ABV), a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD), is not only the dominant brewer in much of Latin America, but one of the most profitable beverage companies in the world. Ridiculously efficient, AmBev should benefit not only from leading brands, but the relatively low per-capita consumption in its markets. Investors will also be pleased to know that the company has to distribute at least a third of its earnings to shareholders in profitable years.  

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