(RTTNews) - Tiffany & Co. (TIF: News ), the world's second-largest luxury-jewelry retailer, is slated to release its third-quarter results before the market opens Wednesday.

On average, 17 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the company to post earnings of $0.24 per share for the quarter, with estimates ranging between $0.20 and $0.27 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Sales for the quarter are estimated to be $573.75 million, representing a 7.2% decline from last year.

For the same quarter a year ago, the New York-based company had generated net earnings of $43.8 million or $0.35 per share, on net sales of $618.23 million.

While announcing the second-quarter results, Michael Kowalski, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "While economic and retail conditions remain challenging, we were encouraged to see many stores achieving either smaller year-over-year rates of sales declines or modest sales growth compared with the past two quarters. More importantly, Tiffany's strong financial and operating position allows us to continue to expand our global presence in pursuit of robust, long-term growth."

In the prior year, many jewelry stores went out of business as the sales were hit hard by recession. However, major jewelry retailers are expecting higher sales in this holiday season, with some ease in the economy as well as lower competition. The holiday season is crucial for jewelry chains, as most of them record the majority of their sales and up to 100% of their profit in the period. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Commerce Department recently reported that jewelry sales at specialty outlets were down 10.2% for the first nine months of the year.

Tiffany in August raised its full year forecast, while noting that sales trends in August were meeting management's expectation. For the year, net earnings from continuing operations is now projected to be $1.65 to $1.75 per share, up from the previous forecast of $1.50 to $1.60 per share. Analysts expect full year earnings of $1.76 per share, within a range of $1.54 to $1.88 per share.
Brokerage Credit Suisse expects Tiffany to post fiscal 2009 earnings per share of $1.83.

The company now expects a full year worldwide sales decline of about 10%. Earlier, the company had expected a worldwide sales decline of nearly 11%. Analysts expect full year revenues of $2.59 billion, representing a 9.5% from last year.

On a regional basis, sales are projected to decline a mid-teens percentage in the Americas, a low-single-digit percentage in the Asia-Pacific region, a low-single-digit percentage in Europe, as well as a 50% decline in Other sales.

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