Shares of the nutrition and weight-loss products company fell 12% on Wednesday, another 9% yesterday, and they’re off about 13.5% again today. Ackman claims that Pershing Square holds a short position in more than 20 million shares of Herbalife. That’s virtually all the short shares held in the company as of the November 30th.
By one estimate, Ackman has made a profit of $250 million on his short position in Herbalife, money he says will be contributed to charity through the Pershing Square Foundation.
For its part, Herbalife’s CEO denies Ackman’s accusations and the company has called a special analysts’ meeting for January 7 to rebut the charges. Forbes noted today that of nine analysts covering Herbalife, all have Buy or Strong Buy ratings on the stock. The January meeting is virtually certain to up the number of analysts covering the company.
Shares of Herbalife are down 13.7% today, at $29.09 after posting a new 52-week low of $28.76 earlier today. The prior range was $33.05 to $73.00.
A copy of Ackman’s slide presentation is available here.
Paul Ausick
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