Bill Ackman Tries to Spoils Herbalife's Party

On Monday,

offered guidance for its fourth quarter 2013 and first quarter 2014 results. Herbalife expects its fourth quarter EPS to be in a range of $1.26 to $1.30, well above the consensus estimate of $1.17. Full year 2013 EPS is expected to be in a range of $5.35 to $5.39. Herbalife also guided its first quarter 2014 EPS to come a range of $1.24 to $1.28, below the consensus estimate of $1.40. The company noted in a press release that it will face an “approximately $0.20 foreign currency exchange rate impact compared to the prior year's results.” Additionally, Herbalife increased its stock repurchase program to an available balance of $1.5 billion. The previous $1 billion authorization had a balance of $653 million. To finance the buyback program, the company will be offering $1 billion of five-year convertible debt.

A few hours after Herbalife's investor update, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square released the first of what it promises will be many releases that highlight the deceptive practices and recruitment schemes of top Herbalife distributors. Ackman has purchased the domain name

wrote

in his expose. “He took over his lead generation business, Online Business System (OBS), from his mother-in-law, Deborah Stoltz, and her sister, Marilyn Thom, who were convicted in Canadian Federal Court in Vancouver, British Columbia, of operating an unlawful Herbalife pyramid scheme in Canada in 2004.” Ackman also wrote that “Pershing Square has evidence that Stoltz and Thom remained active with Herbalife.” Shares of Herbalife were trading lower by around three percent Monday afternoon.