For a stock trading in the single digits with a battered balance sheet, that is a bold vote of confidence from management in its own shares. CFO John DeSimone framed the buyback as a reflection of the company's free cash flow generation and flexibility to invest in the business while still returning capital to shareholders. The numbers back up part of that story.
Herbalife's second quarter, reported August 5, brought net sales of $1.3 billion, up 5.4% year over year and at the top of guidance. Strip out currency swings and growth came in at 5.8%, marking the fourth straight quarter of year-over-year sales expansion on both a reported and constant currency basis. Latin America led the way, with net sales climbing 16.6%, while Asia Pacific jumped 15.2% and an even stronger 23.1% once currency effects are removed.
Adjusted EBITDA of $166.6 million landed near the top of the guided range, and on a constant currency basis it beat guidance outright at $174.4 million. Herbalife is also pushing into personalized nutrition, launching Bioniq GO across eleven European markets and the US in June and July, alongside new products under its Life I/O brand and an early beta of at-home blood biomarker diagnostics tied to its Pro2col platform. More than 110,000 people attended the company's 2026 Extravaganza events, a sign that its distributor network is still showing up.
The same quarter that produced the growth numbers also produced a net loss. Herbalife posted a net loss attributable to the company of $26.3 million, driven largely by a $94.6 million charge tied to extinguishing debt after an April refinancing. Gross margin slipped to 77.7% from 78.0% a year earlier, and adjusted EBITDA margin fell 120 basis points to 12.6%.
Not every region is growing either. China sales dropped 24.5% as reported and 29.0% at constant currency, while EMEA fell 3.5%, or 5.6% adjusting for currency. Management responded by narrowing full-year 2026 guidance, trimming the reported adjusted EBITDA range to $670 million to $690 million from a prior $675 million to $705 million, citing FX headwinds even as the constant currency outlook was actually raised.
Leadership is also in flux. DeSimone, the CFO championing the buyback, is set to retire at the end of 2026, handing the role to Scott Schaefer on January 1, 2027. And the balance sheet itself remains a concern: Herbalife carried a total shareholders' deficit of $466.9 million as of June 30, alongside more than $2 billion in long-term debt.
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