Tiffany not feeling blue: Stock up 20% this year

Tiffany had a rough 2012. But investors are more excited about the retailer's prospects this year.

Tiffany might want to change the color of its trademark blue box to green. Shares of Tiffany (TIF) rose nearly 2% Friday after the luxury retailer reported earnings that topped forecasts.

The stock is now up more than 20% year-to-date, surging even as shares of other luxury brands such as Coach (COH) and Nordstrom (JWN) have fallen this year.

Tiffany's stock is also outperforming lower-end jewelry chains Signet (SIG) -- of "He went to Jared!" and "Every kiss begins with Kay" fame -- and Zale (ZLC) as well as online jeweler Blue Nile (NILE).

Related: The wedding is off. Who gets the ring?

Still, some traders on StockTwits are skeptical that Tiffany can continue to do so well. A closer look at the numbers shows some less-than-sparkling trends. Overall sales were a bit below forecasts. Same-store sales were flat from a year ago. And the earnings outlook wasn't that great.

StaceyRetail
$TIF guide 6-9% growth however Q1 down 15-20%. Seriously are we going to do the back half weighted thing again?

retail_guru
But worth remembering with flat comps in Q4, Tiffany is under-performing high & low end from Zales to Harry Winston $TIF $HWD $SIG #Cartier

Very interesting. It could be the case that investors were bracing for worse results. After all, earnings estimates for the quarter and the full year have already come down over the past three months. And the stock missed the rally last year, falling nearly 12% in 2012.

But some traders think Tiffany's stock has rebounded a little too quickly.

LondonH
$TIF Expensive stock at this point. Went short at $71 Bearish

mytfine
$TIF still trading at 23x this year's numbers. Way too rich. Growth just isnt there

That's a great point about valuation. Signet and Zale are both trading at only about 12 to 13 times fiscal 2014 earnings estimates.

Nonetheless, other traders felt that Tiffany's numbers were worth celebrating and added that this could be the beginning of a comeback for luxury overall.

Ragingbull87
Decent earnings from $TIF - expect to see $COH move up in tandem and run into 4/23 er

silverjet2
Maybe $KORS catches a lift on positive outlook by $TIF up 4.55% in PreMarket post-earnings

Both Coach and Michael Kors (KORS) were up Friday morning. Then again, so was the whole market.

Speaking of the market, it's interesting (and perhaps a bit scary in a 2007-early 2008 subprime is "likely to be contained" sort of way) that investors in the U.S. have largely dismissed the turmoil in Cyprus this week.

Few seem to fear that Cyprus may leave the eurozone and spark a bigger round of problems in the likes of Greece, Spain and Italy. The market may be right (they may be crazy) to not be worried. Or they may be betting on a simple and elegant solution to the Cyprus problem. And you'll find it in my Reader Comment of the Week.

@LaMonicaBuzz New rumor: $APPL uses cash reserve to bail out Cyprus. Supplies everyone with rumored iPhone 6. #itcouldhappen—
Jeremy Laws (@mrjlaws) March 20, 2013

Ha! Apple (AAPL) could use that $137 billion in cash for altruistic reasons. But I'm not betting on Tim Cook saving Europe.

As for the iPhone 6, isn't the iPhone 5S coming out first? Either way, I hope Apple fixes its maligned Maps app. At the very least, it should give Cypriots the proper directions to their nearest ATM in case there's another bank run next week.