Ulta shares pop as beauty retailer beats Wall Street expectations and hikes earnings outlook

Ulta shares pop as beauty retailer beats Wall Street expectations and hikes earnings outlook

• Ulta Beauty beat on the top and bottom lines for its fiscal first quarter on Tuesday.
• CEO Kecia Steelman praised the company's ability to navigate the macroeconomic landscape with its strategy.
• Ulta also reaffirmed its full-year revenue guidance and raised its full-year projection for earnings per share.

Ulta Beauty on Tuesday reported quarterly results that beat on the top and bottom lines and hiked its earnings outlook as the retailer saw a strong start to its fiscal year.

Shares of the company rose as much as 7% in extended trading.

Here's how the company performed in its fiscal first quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $7.74 vs. $6.86 expected
• Revenue: $3.16 billion vs. $3.10 billion expected

For the three-month period ended May 2, Ulta saw net sales increase roughly 11% compared to the year-ago period. It reported comparable sales rose 5.3%, compared to StreetAccount estimates of up 4.6%.

Ulta reaffirmed its full-year same-store sales and revenue projections, but raised its full-year EPS guidance to between $28.36 and $28.80. Its previous outlook was earnings per share between $28.05 and $28.55.

"Fiscal 2026 is off to a strong start driven by broad-based growth across all channels and major categories," CEO Kecia Steelman said in a statement. "Our results demonstrate the strengths of our model, focused execution of our talented associates and the effectiveness of our strategy in an uncertain macroeconomic landscape."

The earnings come as consumer confidence takes a dip amid soaring gas prices and rising inflation, leading to a pullback in discretionary spending.

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