Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers Rally as Dieters Flock to Programs
(Bloomberg) -- Diet season is looking very good for Nutrisystem Inc. and Weight Watchers International Inc.
Shares of the two companies surged Tuesday after Nutrisystem's earnings forecast topped analysts' projections and subscribers grew for the fourth straight quarter at Weight Watchers, a program backed by Oprah Winfrey.
The period following the holiday season is pivotal for the companies because that's when dieters often make resolutions to lose weight.
Nutrisystem, which also posted fourth-quarter profit and sales that beat predictions, rallied 19 percent to $46.50 in New York, the biggest one-day gain since July 2015.
The company “delivered a strong fourth quarter, exceeding our estimate on every metric,” Mitchell Pinheiro, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities who has a buy rating on the stock, said in a research note.
Shares of Weight Watchers climbed 9.9 percent to $14.39 percent in New York. The rally followed an 8.1 percent gain Monday after a report from M Science said the company has had success pulling in new customers. The two-day gain was the biggest in more than a year for the company.
Oprah Effect
Weight Watchers jumped again in late trading after the company released fourth-quarter earnings, climbing 8.4 percent to $15.60. The company issued a better-than-expected profit forecast for 2017 and said it added subscribers in the fourth quarter. Weight Watchers was struggling before announcing in 2015 that Winfrey was buying a stake and had agreed to act as a spokeswoman for the brand.
Last year was the first time since 2011 that the company added new members over the course of a year, buoyed by its close relationship with Winfrey, said Nicholas Hotchkin, Weight Watchers' chief financial officer.
“It's a combination of people responding well to the strategy and some really good marketing execution,” he said in an interview. “It's really starting to fuel the financial results.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Giammona in New York at cgiammona@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Lisa Wolfson
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
-
'Never Seen This Level Of Negativity': Sandeep Tandon Says The Next Rally May Be Closer Than You Think
Veteran investor Sandeep Tandon says foreign selling is easing, large-caps are due a comeback and mid-caps are crowded, while he turns positive on gold, power and pharma this Diwali.
