Auriga reiterates a 'Buy' on Weight Watchers (WTW); Q4 Preview; Guidance May Act As Catalyst

Auriga reiterates a 'Buy' on Weight Watchers (NYSE: WTW) price target of $87.00.

Auriga analyst says, "While many people will focus on candies and flowers since it is Valentine's Day, investors will be focusing on whether Weight Watchers can exceed last year's tough comps. As we've noted in our earlier reports, we believe that the company is in a solid position to exceed last year due to its successful marketing campaigns, which include solid advertisements by Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley as well as a product tie-in with Dr. Oz, which reached over 1 million registrations earlier this week. We also believe price increases taken in September for its on-line business and in December for its core meetings business should also enable company growth. While Weight Watchers will report its fourth quarter results, which are typically seasonally soft, we believe that Tuesday's emphasis will be on the company's guidance for 2012 as well as 1Q12 progress reports concerning its 2012 campaign. Weight Watcher's progress may also affect shares of its other commercial weight loss peers, such as Nutrisystem (Nsadaq: NTRI)(Buy, $17) and Medifast (NYSE: MED)(Buy, $26). Thus far, we have seen positive internet traffic trends in 2012 which we hope will translate into actual business. Overall, we are reiterating our Buy recommendation and $87 price target going into Weight Watchers fourth quarter and full year 2011 results and conference call."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Weight Watchers click here. For more ratings news on Weight Watchers click here.

Shares of Weight Watchers closed at $75.37 yesterday.

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