Despite being disappointed by the fourth-quarter results reported earlier this month, Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. Chief Executive Michael Johnson was upbeat about the future of the company.
“Our sales will grow, and our results will improve,” Johnson said during a conference call on Feb. 14 with analysts to discuss fourth-quarter earnings. “I’m fully aligned with our board, our investors, our distributors, and our employees to usher in a new era of growth for Herbalife.”
The company will do this by enhancing its product line and distribution network.
Herbalife was launched in 1980 as a weight-loss company. In 2002 it transitioned into a nutrition company.
“Today, we are launching ourselves into the future to be a public health and wellness company,” Johnson said. “Through new products, new services, coaching, wellness evaluations available through our distributor platform for our customers, we shall see this company grow.”
Herbalife sells protein shakes, snacks and a range of diet and nutrition supplements. It uses a network of distributors, who can also sign up new recruits and get paid based on a portion of those recruits’ sales.
This month, the downtown-based company reported adjusted net income of $52.4 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared to net income of $59.3 million in the same period of the prior year. Revenue fell by 10% from the previous year’s fourth quarter to $1.2 billion.
Its stock price has fluctuated between a 52-week high of $44.18 on Feb. 18 of last year and a low of $12.04 on Dec. 7. Its shares closed at $19.29 as of Feb. 23, a 29% increase in value from the start of the year when the price closed at $14.92 on Jan. 3.
At least one analyst who follows the company, Ivan Feinseth of New York-based Tigress Financial Partners, shared Johnson’s upbeat assessment of the company’s future.
“The one thing the pandemic has taught us is the best way to be healthy is to be healthy,” he added.
As the company goes forward it will need to encompass a holistic approach of exercise and supplements and diet and tracking, which Herbalife provides, Feinseth said.
“It’s creating an ecosystem that brings people in that can subscribe to their advice and guidance and products,” Feinseth added.
He believes that Johnson returned to Herbalife at a time of opportunity and can benefit from several tailwinds, starting with a focus on health and wellness.
Johnson was brought back as chief executive by the Herbalife board of directors at the end of October. He previously served as head of Herbalife from 2003 to 2017 and on a temporary basis from 2019 to early 2020.
China has become a smaller part of the company’s business in recent years, according to Hale Holden, a managing director in the research division of Barclays Bank. He asked if the company could grow the Chinese market without margin dilution.
The Chinese market was part of the company’s Transformation Program, which was launched in 2021 and involves the realignment of infrastructure and the locations of certain functions, Alexander R. Amezquita, the chief financial officer of Herbalife, said during the call.
As a global company, Herbalife sees tremendous opportunity in the Chinese market, one of the largest in the world, he added.
“I don’t think we’re giving up on the opportunity in terms of what we think we can do on the top line,” Amezquita said.
