Ask Matt: What’s wrong with Tiffany?

Q: What’s wrong with Tiffany?

A: Tiffany (TIF) just gave investors a gift-wrapped surprise. Only it wasn’t a good one.

The high-end jewelry retailer Wednesday reported disappointing revenue and adjusted profit for the quarter ended in April. That makes Tiffany the latest retailer that’s struggling and causing investors to wonder how widespread the issues are and if the company can snap out of its malaise. Tiffany reported quarterly adjusted profit of 64 cents a share, which is down 21% from the same period a year ago. Worse yet, it was 6% lower than analysts expected, says S&P Global Market Intelligence. Revenue was also down 7% to $891.3 million.

Like many luxury retailers, Tiffany was hit with disappointing spending by foreign tourists in the U.S. The situation was only worsened by the strong U.S. dollar. But that’s just one of the issues faced by the company. It also suffered from the sluggish European and Asian regions as well as competition from online rivals. The company isn’t indicating any turnaround soon. Tiffany said to expect profit per share to fall in the mid-single-percentage range for the current year. Investors have plenty of reason to doubt the stock, explaining why it has lost a quarter of its value in a year.

Paste BN markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.