What Diet Season? Nutrisystem, Fitbit Hit a Wall With Forecasts

(Bloomberg) -- Some New Year’s weight-loss resolutions seem to be running out of steam.

Both Nutrisystem Inc. and Fitbit Inc. provided disappointing outlooks, sending shares of the companies down 28 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in post-market trading. Their skinny forecasts may portend bad news for Weight Watchers International when it reports results Tuesday, and its shares lost 2.4 percent in late trading.

Nutrisystem blamed a “slower-than-expected start to diet season” as its “fatigued” advertising campaign failed to attract new customers, Chief Executive Officer Dawn Zier said in a statement. The company sees the setback as “temporary and fixable”, yet forecast first-quarter earnings-per-share of 3 cents to 8 cents, well short of the 28-cent average of six analysts’ estimates.

Meanwhile, Fitbit expects limited revenue from new product introductions as consumer demand shifts toward smartwatches. Fitbit sees first-quarter revenue falling as much as 20 percent from the year-ago period and sees annual revenue of about $1.5 billion if the trend persists, which would be its worst sales performance since its 2015 public offering.

--With assistance from Richard Richtmyer

To contact the reporter on this story: Will Daley in New York at wdaley2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Courtney Dentch, Morwenna Coniam

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