NutriSystem Inc. (NTRI-NASDAQ) posted earnings with $1.04 EPS on revenues of$238.36 million; analysts expected EPS of $0.91 and revenues of $212.7 million.
GUIDANCE: Next quarter revenues $190 to $200 million and EPS between $0.82 and $0.86…compared to estimates of $170.5M revenues and $0.70 EPS. It expects full year 2007 revenues of $790 to $805 million and $3.34 and $3.46 per share….compared to estimates of $734M revenues and $3.05 EPS. Impressive.
Michael Hagan, Chairman/President/CEO: "The solid growth of our core women’s market and continued strength of the men’s market allowed us to achieve record earnings. In addition, an integral part of our first quarter has been the ongoing expansion of our pool of ex-customers and their desire to return to NutriSystem for weight management services. The operating margin expansion we saw in the first quarter was partially due to the growth in revenue from ex-customers."
Direct channel revenues reached $217,859,000 in the first quarter of 2007, a 64% increase over the same period in 2006. The Company added approximately 358,000 Direct channel new customers, a 52% increase from approximately 235,000 new customers in the first quarter of 2006. It also spent $76 million in Q1 to repurchase 1.7 million shares of common stock.
Well, no matter how you cut it this was an impressive turnout in numbers. The stock had already been rocked well off its highs pretty hard and short selling had increased: March’s 13.4 million short interest grew to a total amount of more than 14.38 million shares in April.
The 52-week trading range is $40.82 to $76.33. Shares closed up 2.5% at $58.24 after-hours, and shares are up more than 10% at $64.75 in after-hours. You don’t have to like Dan Marino and crew and you don’t even have to like women that can get back into a size 2, but these numbers are hard not to like.
Jon C. Ogg
April 25, 2007
Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
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