Shares of Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) climbed as much as 7% early Wednesday, then settled to trade up around 1% as of 3:15 p.m. ET after the dietary-supplement specialist announced a restructuring initiative along with encouraging forward guidance.
On Herbalife's new CFO, new guidance for 2024
In a press release this morning, Herbalife announced it has appointed John DeSimone as its new CFO, replacing Alex Amezquita in the C-suite position. DeSimone previously served as CFO from 2010 to 2018 and has been with the company for 17 years. Amezquita will remain with the company in another role.
Herbalife also noted that "management is beginning to observe more stability in the business" and is therefore comfortable initiating guidance for first-quarter net-sales growth of 1% to 3% year over year. For the full-year 2024, Herbalife now expects revenue to be flat to up 5% from 2023 -- an improvement from preliminary guidance from management last month for growth to be flat this year with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $540 million to $570 million.
Herbalife's new restructuring project
Included in Herbalife's guidance assumptions for 2024 are around $40 million of savings related to a new "organizational redesign project" the company began reviewing earlier this year. This project is distinct from Herbalife's previously announced "transformation program," and is designed to streamline the organization and improve productivity. Starting in 2025, Herbalife expects to see at least $80 million of run rate savings from the new program.
In the end, this update was obviously an incremental positive for Herbalife investors. The stock is simply responding in kind.
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