Bear of the Day: Helen of Troy (HELE)

Helen of Troy Ltd.HELE recently issued weak full year guidance as it struggles with tariffs and slower consumer demand. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) is trading near its 5-year lows.

Helen of Troy is a global consumer products company with a bunch of well-known brands including OXO, Hydro Flask, Osprey, Vicks, Braun, Honeywell, PUR, Hot Tools, Drybar and Curlsmith.

Helen of Troy Beat in the Fiscal Second Quarter of 2026

On Oct 9, 2025, Helen of Troy reported its fiscal second quarter 2026 results and beat on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.05. It reported $0.59 versus the consensus of $0.54.

It was the first beat after missing the prior two quarters.

Net sales fell 8.9% to $431.8 million from $474.2 million a year ago. Both of its business segments declined.

Beauty & Wellness fell due to lower sales of thermometers, heaters, and hair appliances. Home & Outdoor saw a decrease in the insulated beverageware and home categories.

Gross profit also declined year-over-year to 44.2% from 45.6% due to a 200-basis point hit from the tariffs and some promotional expenses.

Analysts Are Bearish on Helen of Troy for This Year and Next

In its fiscal Q1 2026 earnings report, Helen of Troy only provided second quarter guidance, and not full year. But on Oct 9, 2025, it finally gave full year guidance. However, it was below the Zacks Consensus.

As a result, 2 estimates were cut for both fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 in the last month. For fiscal 2026, the cuts pushed the Zacks Consensus down to $4.29 from $4.62.

That’s a decline of 40.2% from fiscal 2025. But earnings were also down 19.5% in fiscal 2025.

The fiscal 2027 Zacks Consensus Estimate fell to $4.33 from $4.98. This is earnings growth of 0.9%.

Here’s what it looks like on the 5-Year Price and Consensus chart.

Shares of Helen of Troy Fall to 5-Year Lows

Shares of Helen of Troy still haven’t found a bottom. It’s down 90.2% over the last 5 years but is still down 65.9% year-to-date.

It’s dirt cheap on a price-to-earnings (P/E) basis. It has a P/E of 4.75. A P/E under 10 is considered dirt cheap. But sometimes a P/E can be too low and it indicates a trap. 

Helen of Troy is not paying a dividend at this time. It has also put in a slew of things to turn the business around including suspension of projects and capital expenditures that are not critical.

It had paused most project and travel expenses in Q1 and that remains in place.

While it is working on mitigating some of the tariffs, it has resumed a targeted purchases of inventory from China in the short term. However, it’s expecting softer consumer demand in the short to intermediate term.

Given all the uncertainty, investors might want to wait on the sidelines for improvement in sales and earnings.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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