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Medifast (MED) Q4 Earnings Coming Up: What Should You Know?

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Medifast, Inc. (MED - Free Report) is likely to register a top-and-bottom-line decline when it reports fourth-quarter 2023 earnings on Feb 20. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at nearly $174 million, suggesting a decrease of 48.4% from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure.

The consensus mark for quarterly earnings has remained unchanged in the past 30 days at 99 cents per share, which indicates a decline of 73.2% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure. MED has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 80.7%, on average.

Factors to Consider

Medifast has been encountering difficulties in attracting customers, primarily because of a range of macroeconomic elements, such as a rapidly changing economy, inflation, shifts in social media algorithms and fierce competition.  In the third quarter of 2023, net revenues of $235.9 million declined 39.6% year over year.

Though Medifast’s efforts to expand product offerings, including medical weight loss, into its programs and diversify its customer base are likely to aid customer acquisition trends, management does not expect these improvements or any meaningful results until 2024. This raises concerns for the quarter under review.

MEDIFAST INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

MEDIFAST INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

MEDIFAST INC price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | MEDIFAST INC Quote

For 2023, MED expects revenues in the band of $1,050-$1,070 million for 2023 compared with $1,598.6 million reported in 2022. Management expects revenues in the range of $170-$190 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, which indicates a decline from the $337.2 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2022. Lower revenues are likely to have impacted the company’s gross margin in the fourth quarter. Apart from this, expenses related to market research and investments in medically-supported weight loss activities may have impacted profits.

However, key growth initiatives, including the cultivation of product and program innovation, expansion into diverse market segments and geographies, refinement of coach and client experiences, harnessing in-depth data and insights and streamlining operational efficiency have been working well. Additionally, the recently introduced 'Fuel for the Future' program is likely to have aided performance. This strategic initiative is aimed at optimizing expenditures across the business.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model doesn’t conclusively predict an earnings beat for Medifast this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here.

Medifast has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, and it carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks With the Favorable Combination

Here are three companies worth considering as our model shows that these have the correct combination to beat on earnings this time:

The Gap, Inc. currently has an Earnings ESP of +24.44% and sports a Zacks Rank of 1. GPS is likely to register a bottom-line increase when it reports fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 numbers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings per share of 19 cents suggests an increase of 125.3% from the year-ago fiscal quarter’s reported number. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Gap’s top line is expected to decrease from the prior-year fiscal quarter’s reported number. The consensus estimate for quarterly revenues is pegged at $4.21 billion, suggesting a decline of 0.7% from the prior-year fiscal quarter’s reported figure. GPS has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 137.9%, on average.

Inter Parfums (IPAR - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +5.71% and a Zacks Rank of 2. The company is likely to register a top-line increase when it reports fourth-quarter 2023 numbers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Inter Parfums’ quarterly revenues is pegged at $329 million, indicating a rise of 5.9% from the figure reported in the prior-year quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Inter Parfums’ quarterly earnings of 35 cents suggests a decrease of 50.7% from the year-ago quarter’s levels. IPAR has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 45.7%, on average.

Costco Wholesale (COST - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.36% and a Zacks Rank of 3. COST is likely to register a top-and-bottom-line decline when it reports the second-quarter fiscal 2024 numbers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Costco’s quarterly revenues is pegged at $59.1 billion, suggesting growth of 6.9% from that reported in the prior-year quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Costco’s earnings for the fourth quarter has been unchanged in the past 30 days at $3.59 per share, indicating an increase of 8.8% from the year-ago period reported figure. COST delivered an earnings beat of 2.6%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

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