Lawsuit Deadline Looms for Helen of Troy Investors
A securities class action lawsuit against Helen of Troy (HELE) is approaching its March 2 deadline for investors to file as lead plaintiff, according to a law firm notice. The action is one of several recent investor notices involving companies like Wealthfront and Aquestive Therapeutics.
The legal actions follow Helen of Troy's second-quarter fiscal 2026 financial report released on October 9, 2025. The company disclosed a year-over-year decline in consolidated net sales of approximately 8.9% to $431.8 million. Accompanying the sales drop was a reported GAAP diluted loss of $13.44 per share and a significant fall in adjusted diluted earnings per share to $0.59, a substantial decrease from $1.21 in the same period of the prior year. The results included $326.4 million in pre-tax asset impairment charges for the quarter. Immediately following the October 9th announcement, the company's stock price plunged by 24.99%, closing at $20.71 per share. This wasn't the first sign of trouble; an earlier investigation was launched after the first quarter 2025 earnings report on July 9, 2024, which showed declining sales and operating margins attributed to "automation startup issues" at a distribution facility in Tennessee. These events occurred against the backdrop of a multi-year global restructuring plan named "Project Pegasus." This plan was designed to expand operating margins and reduce costs, targeting $75 million to $85 million in annualized pre-tax operating profit improvements by the end of fiscal 2026. The period was also marked by leadership instability. CEO Noel Geoffroy departed abruptly in May 2025 after just over a year in the role, with CFO Brian Grass appointed as interim CEO. Geoffroy herself had succeeded longtime CEO Julien Mininberg in March 2024.
