Honestly, if you've been watching the helen of troy stock price lately, you might feel like you’re looking at a slow-motion car crash. Or maybe a fire sale. It depends on whether you're the type to catch a falling knife or run for the hills. As of mid-January 2026, the stock (trading under the ticker HELE) is hovering around the $19 mark.
That is a staggering drop.
To put it in perspective, we’re talking about a company that was trading at nearly $70 just a year ago. That’s not just a "correction." It’s a total revaluation of what this company is actually worth in a world where consumers are pinching pennies and trade wars are no longer just a headline—they’re a line item on the balance sheet.
The Tariff Trap and Why the Market is Panicking
So, what happened?
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Basically, it's the tariffs. Management recently sat down for their Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings call on January 8, and the numbers were... well, they weren't great. Even though they technically "beat" expectations on revenue—bringing in $512.8 million against the $505 million analysts were looking for—the stock still took a 6% dive the next morning.
Investors aren't looking at the revenue beat. They're looking at the margins.
The company admitted that unmitigated tariff impacts are going to hit them way harder than they thought. They were hoping for a $20 million hit; now they’re staring down the barrel of **$30 million** for fiscal 2026. And 2027 looks even scarier, with potential impacts between $70 million and $80 million. When you’re a mid-cap company, those aren't just numbers. They are absolute profit killers.
Moving Out of China: Easier Said Than Done
The plan is called "Project Pegasus," which sounds very heroic, but it’s essentially a massive, expensive game of musical chairs with their supply chain. They’re trying to get their China exposure down to about 25-30% of their cost of goods sold by the end of this year.
Right now, they're dual-sourcing like crazy.
- By the end of FY26, they want 40% of their remaining China supply to have a backup source elsewhere.
- By FY27, they’re aiming for 60%.
But here's the thing: moving factories isn't like switching your Netflix subscription. It’s messy. It’s expensive. And while they're doing this, they're also dealing with "unfavorable operating leverage." That’s just a fancy way of saying they have big, fixed costs but fewer people are buying their stuff, so each hair dryer or water bottle they sell costs them more to get out the door.
The Brand Split: OXO vs. Everything Else
If you look at the portfolio, it's a tale of two cities. The Home & Outdoor segment, which includes the beloved OXO brand and Osprey backpacks, is the one actually keeping the lights on. Even there, sales were down about 6.7% this past quarter. People just aren't buying $50 insulated water bottles like they used to.
On the other side, you have Beauty & Wellness. This is where things get really hairy (pun intended). Sales of thermometers, humidifiers, and hair appliances have been soft. The only bright spot was the acquisition of Olive & June, which added about $37.7 million to the top line. Without that buy, the beauty segment would have looked even worse.
Is the Stock Actually "Cheap" or Just Broken?
This is the big question.
If you look at the helen of troy stock price through the lens of a "value" investor, it looks like a steal. Morningstar and Zacks are seeing a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio that is almost laughably low—some metrics show a normalized P/E of around 3.88.
Compare that to the S&P 500 average. It’s like finding a designer bag at a garage sale for five bucks.
But is it a bag you actually want?
Analysts are split right down the middle. Most have a "Hold" rating, which is basically Wall Street's way of saying "I'm too scared to buy, but too embarrassed to tell you to sell at these lows." The median price target is still theoretically high—some say $60—but those targets feel like they’re from a different era. UBS and Canaccord recently slashed their targets to the $22 range.
That tells you everything you need to know about the near-term upside.
The Reality of 2026
The company updated its full-year guidance, and it was a bit of a gut punch. They’re now looking at adjusted EPS (earnings per share) of $3.25 to $3.75. To put that in context, they were originally hoping for much higher.
The GAAP loss per share is even more shocking: $35.57 to $36.07.
Why the massive gap? Impairment charges. They had to write down a massive $326.4 million in assets. In plain English, they admitted that some of the brands they bought years ago aren't worth nearly what they paid for them. It’s a massive "oops" on the balance sheet that makes the net income look like a disaster.
What Investors Should Watch Next
If you’re holding HELE or thinking about it, don't just watch the ticker. The helen of troy stock price is going to be a slave to three things over the next six months:
- Inventory Levels: Retailers are being super cautious. If Walmart and Target don't start restocking OXO and Revlon products, HELE is in trouble.
- The New CEO’s Strategy: G. Scott Uzzell has a massive mountain to climb. He’s talking about "commercial excellence," but investors want to see actual margin expansion, not just catchphrases.
- Tariff Mitigation: If they can actually get that net impact down to less than $10 million by 2027 as they claim, the stock could double. But that's a huge "if" in a volatile global trade environment.
Actionable Insights for Your Portfolio
Don't buy the "it's cheap" argument blindly. A low P/E ratio is often a "value trap" if the company's earnings are in a permanent state of decline.
Instead, look for stabilization in the Beauty & Wellness organic sales. Until that segment stops shrinking, the stock will likely stay under pressure. If you are a long-term bull, the current price under $20 represents a significant discount to book value (which is around $37 per share), but you need to have the stomach for a lot more volatility before Project Pegasus starts to actually take flight.
Watch the next earnings release in April for signs that the Olive & June integration is actually driving new customers and not just filling a hole left by declining hair appliance sales. Success there would be a legitimate signal that the turnaround has some teeth.