UPDATE: GNC shares shed premarket gains after earnings miss

GNC Holdings Inc. shares soared more than 3% in premarket trade before reversing those gains to trade down 3% Tuesday, after weaker-than-expected earnings offset news of a new venutre. The Pittsburgh, Pa.-based vitamin retail chain said it will receive about $176 million in a partnership with International Vitamin Corp. As part of the deal, GNC has agreed to integrate its manufacturing division with IVC through a joint venture. GNC will receive an aggregate $101 million in exchange for the net assets of the Nutra manufacturing plant and the Anderson facility and will retain an initial 43% in the venture. The company will receive an additional $75 million in the next four years based on the venture's performance as IVC's ownership stake rises to 100%. Separately, GNC said it had net income of $58.8 million, or 62 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, after a loss of $212.7 million, or $3.03 a share, in the year-earlier period, when it booked impairment charges. The company said it had an adjusted loss of 13 cents a share, compared with a FactSet consensus of EPS of 3 cents. Revenue fell to $547.9 million from $562.8 million, missing the FactSet consensus of $550.0 million. In February, the company completed the last tranche of the roughly $300 million investment by Harbin and used the proceeds to pay down debt and boost its capital position. "While fourth quarter operating results were below our expectations, we recently achieved some major milestones in repositioning the company," Chief Executive Ken Martindale said in a statement. Shares have fallen 24.4% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.6%.

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