NutriSystem Inc. (NTRI) Upgraded to Outperform at Wedbush

NutriSystem Inc. (NTRI) has been upgraded today by the securities research analysts at investment firm Wedbush which raised NutriSystem from a “neutral” rating to “outperform.”  Wedbush also increased their performance outlook on NTRI and adjusted its price target from $17 to $19 dollars.  Wedbush noted that the reasoning for their upgraded rating change today was partly based on new product launches and a lower cost base coupled with commendable performance in a competitive industry.

NTRI gapped up at the market open earlier this morning and was trading at $15.38 just 12 minutes into pre-noon trading.  Shares have since trended with bearish bias, yet overall share gain over Wednesday’s session remains.  Overall, NTRI is slated to close today today with a gain as the morning gap has not been refilled at this time.  Noteworthy is that NTRI continues attempting to regain massive share devaluation which occurred on February 25th, 2011.

NutriSystem is slated to release their next earnings report on July 28th, 2011, and the current consensus EPS estimate is expected to be 28 cents.  Their last earnings report was released on April 27th, 2011, and announced negative EPS of 12 cents with revenue totaling $132.7 million which was down -16.4% year to year.  NTRI is currently trading below its 50 & 200-day moving averages and 2011 is a down year for the company.

NutriSystem Inc. is a leading provider of a weight management system based on a low-calorie, portion-controlled, prepared meal program.  The company has market capitalization of $402,947,350 and 26,953,000 shares outstanding.  NTRI has a 52-week high of $15.38 with the low being $14.69 dollars.