HIMS is down daily and weekly ahead of the company's earnings on Monday
Hims & Hers Health Inc (NYSE:HIMS) stock has had a roller coaster week. The shares gapped higher by 17.5% on Tuesday despite a downgrade, unironically, to "equal-weight" from "overweight" at Morgan Stanley.
Today, HIMS is down 21.5% to trade at $52.16, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Novo Nordisk's (NVO) weight-loss drug shortage has been resolved. The company also acquired a U.S.-based peptide facility, and received two price-target hikes this morning, to $33 and $27, respectively, from Deutsche Bank and BofA Global Research.
When the dust settles today, HIMS is likely looking at a 13% weekly loss but is still 115% higher so far in 2025. Year-over-year, the equity sports a 450% gain, a far cry from trading at 52-week lows of $9.22 one year ago today.
It won't get any less volatile next week, with the healthcare startup reporting earnings after the close on Monday, Feb. 24. The shares have finished five of their last eight post-earnings reactions lower, but surged 31% follwing its February 2024 earnings report. Overall, the options market is pricing in a 24.6% post-earnings move, regardless of direction, for Tuesday's trading, much higher than the average two-year move of 8.9%.
There is significant short squeeze potential around the stock. Short interest is up almost 12% in the two most recent reporting periods, and the 58.21 million shares sold short accounts for 31.6% of the stock's total available float. Keep an eye on analyst movement, too, with earnings next week. Of the 14 brokerages covering HIMS, nine maintain "hold" or worse ratings, while the consensus 12-month price target of $34.92 is still a 33% discount to its current perch.
Bearish bets have dominated over the past two weeks. The security's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.94 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), sits in the 97th percentile of its annual range. HIMS has consistently rewarded premium buyers, per its Schaeffer’s Volatility Scorecard (SVS) score of 91, indicating the stock has tended to deliver larger-than-expected moves relative to the options market’s low volatility expectations.