Herbalife Shares Rise on Profit Report

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Shares of Herbalife Ltd. rose more than 8 percent in after-hours trading on Monday following a second quarter sales and profits report that beat Wall Street expectations.

After the markets closed, the Los Angeles weight loss and nutritional supplements maker reported net income of $111 million (88 cents per share) compared with $82.2 million (65 cents) in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 28 percent to $879 million. Sales in North America, its largest single market, rose 6.7 percent to $259 million. Asia-Pacific was close behind, up 27 percent to $243 million. The company also saw double-digit percentage growth in the Mexico and the South-Central America regions. Sales in China were down 8.7 percent, the only market where the company saw a decline.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average had expected the company to report per-share profit of 75 cents on revenue of $829 million.

Herbalife, which primarily uses independent distributors to sell its energy drinks and nutritional supplements, said it expects to see net sales growth of 21 to 23 percent in the current third quarter and earnings per share between 71 to 76 cents. The analyst consensus is for profit of 69 cents per share.

The company, which does business in more than 70 countries and last month ranked No. 1 on the Business Journal’s annual list of fastest-growing companies, said it now expects annual per-share profit of $2.97 to $3.07 and net sales growth of 22 to 24 percent. That compares with a consensus estimate of $2.91 per-share profit.

“We believe that we are just getting started … as Herbalife helps consumers tackle the global issues of obesity,” said Chief Executive Michael Johnson in a statement.

Shares earlier closed down 18 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $55.54 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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