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The analysts, who have a Buy rating and $12.50 price target on WW, explained that media reports on Oprah’s September 20th online panel discussion took her comments out of context, making it sound like she was against the use of the GLP-1 drugs.
However, Oprah gave a quote to The Wall Street Journal in an article over the weekend, which clarified her “position on the use of prescription medication was misconstrued and taken out of context.”
Oprah added: “To be clear, I believe that prescription medications are an important and viable option to consider for people who struggle with weight and health-related issues.”
Commenting on her shrinking position in WW, Oprah said she chose to rebalance her overall portfolio, “which had included a significant stock position in WeightWatchers.”
The analysts said in their note that the comments from Oprah “will be viewed very positively for WW,” with the article even mentioning “that some WW employees speculated that Oprah might be taking Ozempic.”
Meanwhile, another Wall Street firm, Morgan Stanley, released a note regarding WW on Monday, stating that the company’s 3Q downloads grew 17% year-on-year, demonstrating strong traction in new sign-ups, which were helped by shifted marketing.
The growth is a “meaningful acceleration above the 1% y/y performance last quarter,” said analysts, who maintained an Overweight rating and a $13 price target on the stock. “This is the best quarterly download growth since 1Q18 and the first +DD result since 4Q20.”
Looking to the company’s next earnings release, they said Morgan Stanley views marketing efficiency as a key focus on the print as they look to see if sub growth was gained profitably.
