TLDR
- Herbalife (HLF) stock surged 18.32% Thursday after Cristiano Ronaldo invested $7.5 million for a 10% stake in subsidiary HBL Pro2col Software LLC.
- Ronaldo has been a paid Herbalife ambassador since 2013; this is his first disclosed investment in the company.
- Q4 2025 EPS of $0.45 beat the $0.43 estimate; revenue of $1.3 billion topped the $1.25 billion forecast.
- Q4 sales rose 6.3% year-over-year; full-year 2025 sales up 1% vs. 2024.
- Wall Street’s average price target of $15.60 implies a 20.3% downside from current levels despite a Moderate Buy consensus.
Herbalife stock jumped 18.32% Thursday, hitting a 52-week high after two catalysts landed on the same day — a celebrity investment and a clean earnings beat.
Cristiano Ronaldo paid $7.5 million for a 10% stake in HBL Pro2col Software LLC, a Herbalife-owned platform that collects health and lifestyle data to build personalized nutrition plans.
The deal was announced during Wednesday’s Q4 earnings call. Markets reacted when the opening bell rang Thursday, and HLF kept climbing — adding another 1.12% in after-hours trading.
Ronaldo has been a paid brand ambassador for Herbalife since 2013. The two even co-developed a sports drink, Herbalife24 CR7 Drive. But this marks his first publicly disclosed financial stake in the company.
He called it a “natural evolution” of the partnership, saying the investment aligns with his focus on health and performance at this stage of his career.
With roughly 1.04 billion social media followers and the top spot on Forbes’s 2025 highest-paid soccer players list at $280 million in earnings, Ronaldo brings rare commercial weight to the brand.
Earnings Gave Investors More to Work With
The Q4 numbers held up on their own. Herbalife posted adjusted EPS of $0.45, clearing the $0.43 analyst estimate. Revenue came in at $1.3 billion, above the $1.25 billion consensus.
Q4 sales rose 6.3% year-over-year despite foreign exchange headwinds. Full-year 2025 sales edged up 1% compared to 2024.
Mizuho Securities analyst John Baumgartner called Ronaldo’s investment “a nice add” for Herbalife, though his comments were measured rather than emphatic.
Wall Street Isn’t Fully Convinced
The consensus rating on HLF is Moderate Buy — three Buys, one Hold, one Sell over the past three months. But the average price target sits at $15.60, implying a 20.3% downside from where the stock closed Thursday.
That gap between price action and analyst targets is worth watching. Thursday’s surge came after years of pressure on the stock, which has lost roughly two-thirds of its value over the past five years.
Ronaldo is also set to feature for Portugal at the 2026 North America World Cup this summer, keeping his profile front and center through the year.
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