Over the past two years, shares of multi-level marketing giant Herbalife have been immensely volatile, largely due to the activities of activist hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has been waging an aggressive campaign against Herbalife’s management, accusing the company of fraud.
At times, his accusations have prompted sharp sell-offs, but more recently, the focus seems to have shifted to Herbalife’s earnings. Last month, shares of Herbalife tumbled after its earnings report came in short of analysts’ expectations.
Management remains confident in its business, and in a subsequent earnings call, pointed out a number of factors investors should be aware of. Below are five of the most important quotes from Herbalife’s most recent earnings call, courtesy of S&P Capital IQ .
The market for its products is growing
Herbalife’s products are, broadly speaking, aimed at helping to facilitate weight loss. A meal replacement shake, Formula 1, is the cornerstone of its portfolio, while it also offers supplements such as metabolism-boosting tea and multivitamins.
So long as global obesity rates remain elevated, Herbalife’s management believes the market for its products is large. Citing a recent study, the company’s CEO Michael Johnson quantified the opportunity for Herbalife.
The Harvard School of Public Health estimates that the worldwide rate of obesity has nearly
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Ackman Says “My Bad” On Herbalife Presentation
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has two words to sum up his Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) presentation last week: “My bad.”
Investors may have missed the point because the event was long and overhyped, Ackman said in an interview. Even the private researcher who helped convince Ackman the company is an illegal pyramid scheme now says the details of a two-year investigation into Herbalife’s nutrition clubs were largely ignored.
Ackman had promised to show an Enron-style fraud during the event. Instead of dumping the stock, investors sent the shares up 25 percent after the presentation, marking the biggest one-day gain in the history of the company. Ackman’s firm, Pershing Square Capital Management LP, bet $1 billion against the stock in 2012.
“It was a PR failure,” Ackman said. “I think we raised expectations. People were looking for the dead body and the smoking gun and instead what they got was a three-hour detailed regulatory presentation.”
The shares declined 6.1 percent to $52.40 at the close in New York.
Lost amid the earlier share gain was research that offers evidence of an elaborate and secretive illegal recruiting system, said Christine Richard, a former journalist who helped Ackman present material at the New York event.
William “Bill” Ackman, founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital