After popping 10% in early trading, shares closed up 4.4% to $53.75. Herbalife sank 14% late Friday on a report that the company has been under a criminal probe by the Justice Department.
Investors appeared to be reacting to the company's post-market close statement Friday.
"We have not received any formal nor informal request for information from either (the Justice Department or the FBI),'' the company said. "We take our public disclosure obligations very seriously."
Friday's slide was similar to the 15% March 12 tumble Herbalife suffered after the multi-level marketing company said it was was being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission.
At the time, Herbalife said it "welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace," and said it would fully cooperate with the FTC.
Shares are down about 35% in 2014. Barclays analyst Meredith Adler, who has a $94 price target on the stock, said in a recent research report that the current law that governs the multi-level marketing industry is vague, and prior court opinions have been conflicting.
The company's business plan has been criticized for months by Pershing Square hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, who made a $1 billion bet on the stock's collapse in December 2012 and had lobbied regulators and members of Congress to investigate the company's business practices.
Ackman has repeatedly called Herbalife's multi-level marketing and sales practice a pyramid scheme and charged that the company was violating Chinese labor laws. Herbalife has denied Ackman's accusations.
Ackman's efforts to bash Herbalife have drawn criticism and protracted exchanges from activist investor Carl Icahn, who aligned himself with management and amassed a 13% stake in the company last year. Icahn has said Herbalife is undervalued.
Herbalife had 2013 sales of $4.8 billion, up from about $4.1 billion ! in 2012. It markets energy and fitness snacks, drinks, vitamin supplements and skin-care products through 3 million distributors in more than 90 countries.
The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings April 28.
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