Herbalife Q1 Results Top Estimates; Boosts FY14 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Nutritional supplements maker Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) reported net income for the quarter of $74.6 million or $0.74 per share, compared to $118.9 million or $1.10 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted1 net income for the first quarter was $151.1 million or $1.50 per share, compared to $137.4 million or $1.27 per share in the prior year quarter.

First quarter net sales rose 12% to $1.26 billion from $1.12 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.29 per share on revenue of $1.23 billion for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company forecasts net sales growth of 10% to 12% and adjusted earnings of $1.51 to $1.55 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.55 per share on revenue growth of 9.10% for the second quarter.

For the full year 2014, the company now forecasts net sales growth of 10% to 12% and adjusted earnings of $6.10 to $6.30 per share. Previously, the company forecast net sales growth of 7.5% to 9.5% and adjusted earnings of $5.85 to $6.05 per share.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $6.05 per share on revenue growth of $9.90% for the full year 2014.

The company said its board of directors has approved terminating the company's quarterly cash dividend and instead utilizing the cash to repurchase additional shares of the company's outstanding common stock during the second quarter, as part of its goal to accelerate cash returns to shareholders.

The company now expects to repurchase a total of $581 million of its outstanding common stock during the second quarter as part of its previously announced $1.5 billion share repurchase program. The $581 million is comprised of the about $315 million expected to be purchased in April as part of a 10b5-1 trading plan; plus the $50 million included in previous guidance and $216 million that otherwise was expected to be returned to shareholders in the form of quarterly cash dividends over the next eight quarters.