ULTA
Ulta came out swinging
Ulta Beauty had a pretty decent Tuesday night, unless you were one of the bears hoping for a stumble. The retailer posted Q1 earnings of $7.74 per share on revenue of $3.16 billion, both comfortably ahead of estimates. That’s the kind of beat that gets traders refreshing their screens and muttering, “Okay, fine, the consumer is still buying mascara.”
What actually moved the needle?
This wasn’t just a one-line headline beat. Net sales rose 11.1% to $3.2 billion, helped by:
- stronger comparable sales
- the Space NK acquisition
- sales from new stores
Comparable sales climbed 5.3%, with both bigger baskets and more trips to the store doing the heavy lifting. Gross profit also improved, while SG&A rose thanks largely to Space NK — because acquisitions, like toddlers, tend to come with extra expenses.
The real investor candy: guidance
Ulta raised its fiscal 2026 GAAP EPS guidance to $28.36 to $28.80, a touch above the Street’s expectations, while leaving revenue guidance intact at $13.14 billion to $13.26 billion. That tells investors management isn’t just celebrating one hot quarter — it thinks the year still has some runway.
Big picture
Ulta’s quarter says the beauty category still has some shine, even in an uncertain macro backdrop. The stock popped in after-hours trading, and for investors, that’s the two-part punchline: the business is growing, and management sounds confident enough to raise the bar.