Back to top

Image: Bigstock

If You Invested $1000 in Medifast 10 Years Ago, This Is How Much You'd Have Now

Read MoreHide Full Article

How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Medifast (MED - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MED for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Medifast's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Medifast's main business drivers.

With more than 40 years of experience in the health and wellness space, Medifast, Inc. (MED - Free Report) has become a remarkable direct-selling company in the industry. The company is also known for its leading health and wellness community—OPTAVIA — which provides Lifelong Transformation, One Healthy Habit at a Time lifestyle solutions. Given consumers’ rising inclination toward health, the OPTAVIA lifestyle solution and coaching support system bode well. Notably, OPTAVIA-branded products contributed 87.2% of the total consumable units sold in fourth-quarter 2020.

Incorporated in 1989, Medifast is a leading manufacturer and distributor of clinically-proven healthy living products and programs. The company produces, distributes and sells weight loss, weight management and healthy living products throughits direct online channels as well as franchise weight control centers.

The Baltimore, MD— based company boasts of a diversified portfolio of more than 170 consumable product options, which include bars, bites, pretzels, puffs, cereal crunch, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes and soups.

Medifast’s manufacturing plant, which is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, is situated in Owings Mills, MD. The company sells different types of products, which are formed on the basis of its proprietary formulas across the United States and the Asia-Pacific.The products are sold under brands such as the Medifast, OPTAVIA, Thrive by Medifast, Optimal Health by Take Shape for Life and Flavors of Home.

OPTAVIA product line is sold through its community of independent coaches who offer support and guidance to their clients. In partnership with OPTAVIA coaches, franchise partners, resellers and its Scientific Advisory Board, Medifast offers comprehensive wellness products and programs that focus on creating sustainable change by helping people learn to incorporate healthy habits into their lives.

Bottom Line

While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Medifast ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in May 2011 would be worth $12,816.09, or a gain of 1,181.61%, as of May 20, 2021, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 206.32% and gold's return of 18.76% over the same time frame.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for MED.

Medifast has outpaced the industry in the past six months. The company has been gaining on strength in its OPTAVIA lifestyle solution and coaching support system, which is set to benefit from consumers’ rising inclination toward health. This was evident in first-quarter 2021, wherein earnings and sales grew year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Strength in OPTAVIA remained a driver, with average revenue per active earning OPTAVIA coach up year over year. Certainly, Medifast’s focus on developing tools and programs to increase efficiency of coaches has been working well. Encouragingly, the company’s 2021 view suggests earnings and sales growth. However, higher SG&A costs due to increased OPTAVIA commission costs have been a concern. Also, the gross margin is likely to be under pressure in the second quarter.

Shares have gained 33.12% over the past four weeks and there have been 3 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2021 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


MEDIFAST INC (MED) - free report >>

Published in