Reasons to Retain Hims & Hers Stock in Your Portfolio for Now

Hims & Hers Health HIMS has entered the second half of 2026 with strong momentum from weight-loss offerings, international expansion and AI-enabled care. However, gross-margin pressure from changing business mix, regulatory uncertainty surrounding the FTC and peptide therapies, and the need to navigate evolving weight-loss opportunities could temper its growth outlook.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 3.4% in the past three months compared with the industry's 41.2% growth and the S&P 500 Index’s 1.1% increase.

Hims & Hers, with a market capitalization of $6.9 billion, is a consumer-centric health and wellness platform.

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HIMS’ bottom line is estimated to improve 19.5% over the next five years. Its earnings missed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and beat once, delivering a negative average surprise of 94.05%.

What's Driving HIMS’ Performance?

Weight-Loss Expansion Is Reaccelerating Domestic Growth: Hims & Hers' expanded weight-loss product line is becoming a major catalyst for domestic growth. The second-quarter revenues increased nearly 40% year over year to more than $753 million, while U.S. revenues accelerated 16% to $622 million. Management attributed much of the improvement to the March decision to broaden branded weight-loss offerings, which helped offset revenue-recognition headwinds from moving branded products to a monthly cadence.

The category is also strategically valuable because it expands cross-selling into areas such as low testosterone and cardiovascular health. With nearly 3 million subscribers and stronger retention among newer cohorts, weight loss could support sustained growth and greater lifetime value.

International Expansion Is Rapidly Increasing Addressable Market: Hims & Hers is gaining substantial scale globally, with international revenues surging more than 17-fold year over year to $131 million in the second quarter. The Eucalyptus acquisition contributed approximately $40 million, while the existing international business grew 13% sequentially on an organic basis.

The U.K., Australia and Germany have each surpassed $100 million in annualized revenues, with Canada nearing the threshold. Management expects international revenues to reach at least $600 million in 2026, while weight-loss adoption remains meaningfully below U.S. levels. This provides considerable runway for category expansion, although management is prioritizing scale before maximizing profitability.

AI-Enabled Care Could Improve Retention and Lower Service Costs: Hims & Hers is beginning to demonstrate tangible operating benefits from integrating AI into its care model. Among Hers’ weight-loss customers using the new AI-native experience, engagement increased sharply, with users sending three times as many messages, while AI handled approximately 80% of questions. AI reduced nonclinical support tasks by nearly 50%, creating an opportunity to lower the cost of serving subscribers.

Management also reported early evidence of stronger engagement and lower cancellation rates among participating cohorts. If these improvements scale across the broader platform, HIMS could simultaneously improve customer retention, personalize care and generate operating leverage, thereby strengthening its long-term unit economics.

Pharmaceutical Partnerships Strengthen the Weight-Loss Ecosystem: Hims & Hers' relationship with Novo Nordisk provides an important strategic advantage as branded weight-loss treatments become more accessible. Management highlighted strong collaboration around the launch of the Wegovy pill, noting that HIMS is among the largest platforms helping consumers access the therapy.

Internationally, Eucalyptus helped generate tens of thousands of prospective patients for Wegovy's launch in certain markets. The partnership also creates opportunities to exchange insights around adherence, side effects and dosing, potentially strengthening HIMS' ability to support patients throughout their treatment journey. Relationships with pharmaceutical innovators could position HIMS as an important digital distribution and patient-access channel as additional therapies reach the market.

What’s Weighing on HIMS Stock?

Gross Margin Lowers as the Business Mix Changes: Hims & Hers' rapid expansion into branded weight loss and international markets is coming with a meaningful profitability trade-off. Adjusted gross margin fell approximately six percentage points sequentially to 64% in the second quarter, reflecting the increasing contribution of lower-margin branded weight-loss products and international revenues.

Management explicitly expects gross margins to remain below historical levels as these categories expand. Although operating leverage helped adjusted EBITDA margin improve to 8%, the structural mix shift means revenue growth may not translate proportionately into gross-profit growth. Investors therefore need to evaluate HIMS on the basis of future customer lifetime value and scale economics rather than relying on historical margin profiles.

Working-Capital Requirements Are Straining Cash Generation: The rapid expansion of branded weight-loss offerings is creating greater working-capital requirements, highlighting a financial risk associated with HIMS' new business model. Operating cash flow was negative $36 million in the second quarter, while free cash flow was negative $68 million, as short-dated receivables and inventory requirements increased.

Although management expects free cash flow to recover in the second half and has established a $400 million receivables facility, the recent transition underscores that accelerating revenue growth does not necessarily result in proportional cash generation. Continued scaling of branded therapies could require additional liquidity and working-capital investment, particularly if payment cycles lengthen or inventory requirements rise faster than expected.

Peptide Opportunity Remains Dependent on FDA Decisions: Hims & Hers has invested significantly in building infrastructure around peptide therapies, but commercialization remains contingent on FDA rulemaking. Management was encouraged by the fact that six of seven peptides advanced successfully through the FDA's PCAC process and believes the company can move quickly if they are placed on the appropriate Category 1 list.

However, the company is explicitly waiting for full and final FDA rulemaking before bringing these therapies to market. This creates uncertainty around timing, permissible offerings and potential revenue contribution. HIMS can continue expanding other wellness products in the interim, but the broader peptide opportunity remains regulatory-dependent and should not be treated as a near-term guaranteed growth driver.

Hims & Hers Health, Inc. Price and Consensus

Hims & Hers Health, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Hims & Hers Health, Inc. Quote

Estimate Trend

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 revenues is pegged at $3.22 billion, implying growth of 37.2% from the year-ago reported figure. The consensus mark for loss per share is pinned at 60 cents, which implies a deterioration of 213.2% from the previous year’s recorded level.

In the past 30 days, HIMS’ loss per share estimate for 2026 has increased 185.7%.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Globus Medical GMED, Veracyte VCYT andWest Pharmaceutical WST.

Globus Medical, currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 19.6%. Revenues of $789.6 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.4%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GMED has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 12.4%. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 27.9%.

Veracyte, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of 54 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 25.6%. Revenues of $150.3 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.1%.

VCYT has an estimated earnings growth rate of 8.4% for 2026. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 41.8%.

West Pharmaceutical, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $2.37, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.9%. Revenues of $872.3 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.2%.

WST has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 16%. WST’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 17.4%.

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

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