Karishma Vanjani

Signet Jewelers lowered its holiday period sales expectations as customers purchased more affordable items than it had anticipated and it couldn't meet that demand.

Signet, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, on Tuesday updated its outlook for the fourth quarter, revising sales to a range of $2.32 to $2.335 billion, down from expectations shared in December of $2.38 billion to $2.46 billion.

Same-store sales, which measure revenue generated by existing physical locations and e-commerce, are expected to decline by 2% to 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Signet said. The prior expectation was for flat to growth of 3% in same-store sales.

Signet, who owns the Zales and Kay brands, said the days leading up to Christmas had below-forecast performance. "Fashion gifting underperformed as consumers gravitated to lower price points even more than anticipated in a continued competitive environment. Merchandise assortment gaps at key gifting price points impeded our ability to meet that trend," said Chief Financial and Operating Officer Joan Hilson.

Same-store sales fell about 2% in the 10 weeks that ended Jan. 11, the company said.

The stock slumped 12% to $65.49 on Tuesday.

Write to Karishma Vanjani at karishma.vanjani@dowjones.com.

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 14, 2025 07:47 ET (12:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.