Weight Watchers Earnings May Tip the Scale on Surging Stock

(Bloomberg) -- With beach season around the corner in North America, investors are chowing down on shares of Weight Watchers International Inc.

The stock has outperformed in April, rising more than 11 percent compared to a 1.4 percent gain in the S&P 500 Index. A strong earnings report on Thursday could help extend that rally, as options traders expect the shares to move nearly 12 percent following the results, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Wall Street is looking for Weight Watchers to report a first-quarter profit on an adjusted basis for the first time in four years. Revenue is expected to rise 18 percent from the year-earlier period to $389 million, which would be the company's best tally since the second quarter of 2014.

If all goes well, analysts think the stock could reach $84 a share in the next 12 months, a 20 percent jump from the last closing price and less than $3 shy of its all-time high in 2011. That would be a feather in the cap for Oprah Winfrey, who bought a 10 percent stake in October 2015, back when the shares were trading below $7.

--With assistance from Richard Richtmyer

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Freund in New York at jfreund11@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Brad Olesen

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