Herbalife (HLF) Continues its Amazing Run

There have been a handful of companies that I have missed, or chosen to stay out of, the past few years - and Herbalife (HLF) is one of them.  Nutrion/weight loss companies have a history of big runs (Nutrisystem was the last darling of this sector) and then blow ups but Herbalife has prevailed for quite a long time without the blowup.  The direct distribution model seems to be very effective with this sort of product.

Short sellers appear to be squeezed again with yet another beat... the company is following the Apple (AAPL) model for sandbagging guidance and then blowing away that figure, as it offered substantially lower guidance just six weeks ago.

• Earnings for the company rose to 88 cents a share for the quarter, from 65 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts on average had expected the company to earn 75 cents per share.
• Revenue rose 28 percent to $879.7 million, while analysts expected revenue of $829.4 million.

Asia Pacific sales also grew very nicely... as did Mexico.

• The company's revenue from Asia pacific rose about 38 percent to $237.1 million, while Mexico revenues rose about 41 percent to $113.9 million.

Guidance

• For the year, Herbalife now expects to post net income of $2.97 to $3.07 per share, on revenue growth of 22 percent to 24 percent, implying revenue of $3.33 billion to $3.39 billion. Its prior guidance was for earnings between $2.77 and $2.89 per share. Analysts were expecting net income of $2.91 per share on revenue of $3.26 billion.

Full report here.

Herbalife Ltd., a network marketing company, sells weight management, nutritional supplement, energy, sports and fitness, and personal care products worldwide. It offers science based products in four principal categories: weight management; targeted nutrition; energy, sports, and fitness; and outer nutrition.

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