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Ulta Beauty (ULTA) Advances While Market Declines: Some Information for Investors

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The latest trading session saw Ulta Beauty (ULTA - Free Report) ending at $390.50, denoting a +0.2% adjustment from its last day's close. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.08%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.16%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.22%.

The the stock of beauty products retailer has risen by 2.71% in the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.32% and overreaching the S&P 500's gain of 1.42%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Ulta Beauty in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $4.98, reflecting a 6.74% decrease from the same quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $2.48 billion, reflecting a 6.19% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $25.45 per share and a revenue of $11.18 billion, representing changes of +6% and +9.52%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Ulta Beauty. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.28% upward. As of now, Ulta Beauty holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Ulta Beauty currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.31. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.07, which means Ulta Beauty is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that ULTA has a PEG ratio of 1.71. 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 industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.8 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Retail - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 161, putting it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

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

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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