Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Ulta Beauty (ULTA) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

Ulta Beauty (ULTA - Free Report) closed at $375.83 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.82% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.72%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.68%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.67%.

Coming into today, shares of the beauty products retailer had gained 2.79% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 4.26%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.92%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Ulta Beauty as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 10, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Ulta Beauty to post earnings of $4.48 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 31.38%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.7 billion, up 22.59% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Ulta Beauty. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.23% lower. Ulta Beauty is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Ulta Beauty has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.55 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.76.

It is also worth noting that ULTA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.58. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Miscellaneous was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.68 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 86, which puts it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA) - free report >>

Published in