Weight Watchers Jumps 16% After Q3 Earnings Results

Shares of Weight Watchers International WTW surged on Tuesday after the company released its fiscal third-quarter earnings results after the closing bell on Monday. Heading into the closing bell, the stock had added around 16 percent to $55.15. Weight Watchers has been in a downtrend in recent months, and is flat in 2012. The stock's 52-week range is $40.60-$82.91. "Our Q3 2012 financial results were somewhat better than our expectations with continued strength of our WeightWatchers.com business being offset in part by pressure on our North American and UK meetings businesses," President and CEO David Kirchhoff said in a statement. Looking ahead to the fiscal fourth-quarter, the company narrowed its guidance range. The company now expects EPS between $4.00 to $4.15, versus its previous range of $4.00 to $4.20. Currently, Wall Street analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of $4.07 for the fiscal fourth-quarter. For the third-quarter, Weight Watchers reported net income of $67.4 million or $1.20 per share. In the year ago period, the company earned $80.7 million, or $1.09 per share. While net income fell in the quarter, earnings per share increased on a lower share count amid stock buybacks by the company. Wall Street analysts had consensus earnings per share estimates of $1.07 for the third-quarter. Revenues rose 0.5 percent to $430.6 million from $428.0 million in last year's third-quarter. This easily beat Wall Street consensus revenue estimates of $418.68 million.