Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Weight Watchers International (WW) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

Weight Watchers International (WW - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $34.56, moving -0.32% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.07%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.22%.

Coming into today, shares of the weight-loss program operator had gained 19.1% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Discretionary sector gained 5.08%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.58%.

WW will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, WW is projected to report earnings of $0.67 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 33%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $354.41 million, down 3.11% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.70 per share and revenue of $1.42 billion, which would represent changes of -46.67% and -6.46%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WW should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. WW currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking at its valuation, WW is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 20.38. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.39.

We can also see that WW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.36. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.36 as of yesterday's close.

The Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 26, putting it in the top 11% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


WW International, Inc. (WW) - free report >>

Published in