Are Wall Street Analysts Bullish on Ulta Beauty Stock? — TradingView News

Valued at a market value of 17.7 billion dollarsUlta Beauty, Inc. ULTA is a leading specialty beauty retailer in the United States, offering a wide range of cosmetics, skin care, hair care and fragrance products from over 500 brands, as well as its private label. Based in Bolingbrook, Illinois, it also provides salon services in its stores and sells products through its website and mobile applications.

Shares in the beauty products retailer have underperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks. ULTA is down 9.5% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 index ($SPX) has increased by 31.8 per cent. In 2024, ULTA’s shares are down 23.4% compared to SPX’s 25.8% rise on a YTD basis.

By narrowing its focus, ULTA has also lagged behind the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund’s XLY 30.6% gain over the past 52 weeks and 23.1% return on a YTD basis.

Shares of Ulta Beauty fell 4% following Q2 earnings results, which revealed weaker-than-expected net income of $5.30 on revenue of $2.6 billion. The decline in comparable sales, weaker merchandise margins and higher SG&A expenses highlighted pressure from cautious spending and increasing competition. Additionally, the company revised its FY24 net sales guidance downward to $11 billion – $11.2 billion and lowered its EPS forecast to $22.60 – $23.50.

For the current fiscal year ending January 2025, analysts expect ULTA’s EPS to decline 11.4% year-over-year to $23.07. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It beat consensus estimates in three of the last four quarters, while missing on one other occasion.

Among the 28 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a “moderate buy.” It is based on 12 “Strong Buy” ratings, one “Moderate Buy”, 13 “Hold” and two “Strong Sell” ratings.

This configuration is less bullish than three months ago with 15 “Strong Buy” ratings on the stock.

On November 27, Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory reaffirmed a “Buy” rating on Ulta Beauty and set a $450 price target.

The average price target of $402.80 represents a premium of just 7.3% to ULTA’s current levels. The street-high price target of $505 implies a potential upside of 34.6% from the current price.

At the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not hold (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is for informational purposes only. For more information please see the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.

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