Herbalife Ltd. HLFshares declined in after-hours trading Tuesday, after the multilevel-marketing firm missed expectations with its first-quarter earnings. The stock first plunged more than 10% after numbers were released, but shares bounced around to losses between 4% and 8% as the extended session progressed. Herbalife reported net profit of $29.3 million, or 29 cents a share, on revenue of $1.25 billion, down from $1.34 billion a year ago. After adjusting for charges related to layoffs and other parts of management’s “transformation plan” as well as other costs, the company reported earnings of 54 cents a share, down from 99 cents a share a year ago. Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of 66 cents a share on revenue of $1.21 billion, according to FactSet. Herbalife executives have blamed declines in earnings and revenue on being unable to engage with their distributors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and brought back former chief executive Michael Johnson as CEO last year in an attempt to right the ship. Johnson has refused to offer financial guidance, a practice that continued in Tuesday’s report, but said in a statement that “We have accomplished a lot this quarter and are on the right trajectory to see growth by the end of the year.” Johnson also announced changes in his leadership team, with Chief Operating Officer Mark Schissel retiring and being replaced by Frank Lamberti, who was previously regional president of the Americas. Rob Levy will step into the role vacated by Lamberti, and Ibi Montesino will take on an expanded role. Herbalife stock has declined 46.9% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index SPX has increased 0.3%.
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