Top Performer for Monday: FUQI Int'l (FUQI)

FUQI International, Inc. (FUQI - Snapshot Report) is part of the precious metals - jewelry industry, which would seemingly put this company in a tough spot during a global economic downturn. However, the company easily exceeded Wall Street's profit expectations in its first quarter, while also raising its outlook for the full year and enjoying upward revisions from covering analysts.

Today, the company has made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List with a gain of approximately 5.5%. Volume is at 788,000 today, which is a bit lower than the average at 882,000.

FUQI is a leading designer of high quality precious metal jewelry in China, developing, promoting and selling a broad range of products in China's large and expanding Chinese luxury goods market.

Besides FUQI, Fossil Inc. (FOSL - Snapshot Report) is the only other company from the precious metals - jewelry industry on today's 224-stock Zacks #1 Rank List.

Unanimous Agreement

There are currently 4 analysts covering FUQI for this year and 3 analysts covering for next year. All of those analysts have raised their expectations over the past month, which is pretty impressive.

Estimates for this year are up 13.1% in those 30 days to $1.64. Meanwhile, next year's expectations are up 7.6% in that time to $1.98. Therefore, analysts currently see an advance of nearly 21% next year over this year.

Strong First Quarter Report

FUQI is "pleased to be one of the leaders in the growing luxury jewelry market in China, which has been somewhat resistant to the effects of the economic downturn," stated CEO and Chairman Yu Kwai Chong.

The company reported earnings per share of 45 cents for the quarter, compared to 31 cents in the year-ago quarter. The result was better than the consensus of 34 cents by more than 32%.

Revenues jumped 41% year over year to $109.4 million from $77.6 million, attributed to an increase of sales volume in the wholesale business and increased revenues from the retail business.

"We are now beginning to see signs of stability in the Chinese economy, which we believe will bode even better for our future results," said Mr. Chong.

The company now expects earnings per share between $1.49 and $1.63 for the full year on revenue of $442 million to $465 million.

For the second quarter, net income per share is expected between 27 cents and 32 cents on total revenue of $89.5 million to $93.5 million. Analysts currently see 30 cents per share for the quarter, up a penny in the past month. In the year-ago second quarter, FUQI earned 25 cents.