Signet comps rise 2.2% as total sales fall 0.5%
53 stores closed and 5 opened since year-end, leaving 2,534 open. Adjusted earnings guidance rises to $10.45 to $12.15 a share from $9.20 to $11.00.
By The Retail Desk
What changed
Comps up, sales down. Signet's same store sales rose 2.2% in the 13 weeks to 1 August while total sales fell 0.5% to $1,528.1 million, and the company raised its full-year earnings guidance.
What it means
- If you supply Signet: the chain is 48 stores smaller than at year-end, on comps that are growing.
- If you price bridal: average unit retail rose about 6%, in both bridal and fashion.
- What this is not: a sales recovery. The chain sold less in total than a year earlier.
Key figures
| Same store salesagainst 2.4% a year earlier | 2.2% |
|---|---|
| Total salesdown $7.0m to $1,528.1m | 0.5% |
| Fewer stores53 closed, 5 opened since year-end | 48 |
| Adjusted diluted EPSfrom $1.61 a year earlier | $2.19 |
Source: Signet Jewelers, 13 weeks ended 1 August 2026 · Form 8-K filed 9 September 2026
Fifty-three stores came out
Comps without the count. Signet closed 53 stores and opened 5 since year-end Fiscal 2026, leaving 2,534 open at 1 August. Same store sales rose 2.2% across the ones that stayed.
Space shrank 1.1%. Selling space fell 1.1% to 4.0 million square feet on the same comparison. North America took 50 of the 53 closures.
| Measure | Q2 FY27 | Q2 FY26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | $1,528.1m | $1,535.1m | −$7.0m, −0.5% |
| Same store sales | +2.2% | +2.4% | −0.2 points |
| Operating income | $87.5m | $2.8m | +$84.7m |
| Operating margin | 5.7% | 0.2% | +5.5 points |
| Diluted EPS | $1.33 | −$0.22 | +$1.55 |
| Adjusted diluted EPS | $2.19 | $1.61 | +$0.58, +36.0% |
Source. Signet Jewelers' second-quarter Fiscal 2027 release, Exhibit 99.1 to its Form 8-K filed 9 September 2026.
The quarter. is the 13 weeks ended 1 August 2026.
Changes. in the last column are Carat Capital's arithmetic on the company's own figures.
Adjusted. measures are the company's own non-GAAP presentation and exclude items it names, including asset impairments.
The guidance moved, sales did not
Earnings up, revenue flat. Adjusted diluted EPS guidance rises to $10.45 to $12.15 from $9.20 to $11.00. The full-year sales range is unchanged at $6.7 to $6.9 billion.
Eleven point nine percent. The new midpoint of $11.30 sits 11.9% above the old $10.10, and the company intends a $125 million accelerated repurchase this month.
Tariff refunds carried the margin
Fifteen million back. Gross margin was 39.4% of sales, up 80 basis points, helped by about $15 million of refunds for tariffs previously paid.
Gold pushed back. The company names higher gold costs as an offset inside that same margin. Adjusted diluted EPS came to $2.19, from $1.61 a year earlier.
What to watch
- Q3Guidance of $1.37 to $1.41 billion in sales and same store sales of −1.0% to 2.0%.
- SepThe $125 million accelerated share repurchase the company says it will start this month.
- NovThird-quarter results, and whether comps hold on a smaller store count.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
Third-quarter comps at the bottom of the range. Guidance allows −1.0%, and a negative comp on a store count already 48 lower would make this quarter's divergence a peak rather than a pattern.
What same store sales measure
Same store sales compare only locations trading in both periods, so openings and closures drop out. Signet includes e-commerce in the measure. A chain can therefore report rising same store sales and falling total sales at once: the shops still open are selling more, and there are fewer of them.
Method
Every figure is Signet Jewelers' own, taken from Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 8-K it filed on 9 September 2026, read at SEC EDGAR rather than through a wire summary. The quarter is the 13 weeks ended 1 August 2026, compared with the 13 weeks ended 2 August 2025. Store counts are the company's real-estate table: 2,582 at year-end Fiscal 2026, 5 openings, 53 closures, 2,534 at 1 August, of which North America moved 2,329 to 2,282. The 0.5% sales fall, the $84.7 million operating-income gain, the 36.0% rise in adjusted diluted EPS and the 11.9% guidance-midpoint increase are Carat Capital's arithmetic on those figures; the company itself describes the guidance raise as over 10%. Adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS are non-GAAP measures as the company defines them. Two executives are quoted in the release; neither is quoted here.