NutriSystem Shares Go On A Diet Too… (NTRI)

NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI) just cannot get its model right.  That is what the stock keeps telling you through time if you just paid attention to that.  Apparently having a bunch of recently thinned out former athletes and celebrities doesn’t force people to instantly sign up as a client.

The diet food maker and marketer lost $0.04 EPS rather than the consensus for a loss of $0.02 expected, and its revenue was down 24% to $66.9 million in the quarter.  For all of 2012, NutriSystem now only expects earnings of $0.45 to $0.55 in earnings per share and that is about half of analyst expectations.

The stock is down 10.2% at $10.67 and the 52-week trading range is $10.46 to $16.11.  Keep in mind that from 2006 to 2008 this was often a stock above $50.00.  It was not the recession which was the drag here.

We saw that Auriga cut the rating to a “HOLD” this morning and Avondale cut the rating to “Market Perform” in analyst calls.

It was just yesterday that Standpoint Research initiated NutriSystem with a “Buy” rating.  Ouch.