Weight Watchers Reports Q1 Earnings; Shares Jump

On April 30, 2014,

announced its first quarter 2014 results and raised its fiscal 2014 earnings guidance. Shares of the company are up $2.13 or 10.76 percent per share to $21.93. "We are encouraged by the progress we are making on our transformation plan, but there is still a great deal of work to do," commented Jim Chambers, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer. Chambers added, "Our Q1 financial results were ahead of our expectations. Given this, we have revised our full year fiscal 2014 earnings guidance to a range of $1.45 to $1.70." The company reported revenues of $409.4 million, which represents a negative 16.6 percent growth rate when compared to the prior year. The company also had its cash flow equal $83.1 million and earnings per diluted share equal $0.38 per share. The company also reported first quarter net income of $21.5 million versus $48.8 million in the prior year period. The Company raised its full year fiscal 2014 earnings guidance to be between $1.45 and $1.70 per fully diluted share from between $1.30 and $1.60 per fully diluted share. This guidance reflects the fact that fiscal 2014 includes a 53rd week and has an expected negative $0.04 impact on the full year EPS.