Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Household & Personal Products
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. EL
$91.97 +1.97% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $33.26B
Strong growthExpensive vs sectorHigh risk
Next earnings report: Nov 2, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin widened to 11.1% from -1.8% a year earlier.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 13 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +37.8%).
- The shares trade at 187.7× trailing earnings, higher than 93% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Defensive sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 42%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 10%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 24%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 9%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 32%
- Gross marginTop 5%
- Operating marginTop 32%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 32%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 27%
- Interest coverBottom 50%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 28%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 30%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 23%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 17%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 5%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 24%
- 6-month returnTop 8%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 29%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 45%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 44%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 17%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 6%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 42%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 21%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 34%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 24%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 6%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 27%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 0.3% | 5.0% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 74.0% | 75.5% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | -1.8% | 11.1% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 4.7% | 8.7% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 5.0% | 0.3% | ↑ | Top 42% |
| Gross margin | 75.5% | 74.0% | ↑ | Top 5% |
| Operating margin | 11.1% | -1.8% | ↑ | Top 32% |
| Net margin | 1.2% | -7.9% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 8.7% | 4.7% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 4.1% | — | Bottom 32% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -1.8% | — | Bottom 24% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -8.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 2.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -5.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.49×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 5.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.53%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.05%
- Shareholder yield
- 1.57%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.7%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 19, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 13
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +37.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -5.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $102.27
- Target vs current price
- +11.2%
- Analysts with a rating
- 46
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 43%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 19, 2026 | +22.2% | +16.3% | +24.4% | +13.4% | — |
| May 1, 2026 | +40.4% | +3.4% | +11.2% | +16.0% | +10.5% |
| Feb 5, 2026 | +6.6% | -19.2% | -11.9% | -19.8% | -33.7% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +82.1% | +0.3% | -6.4% | -3.8% | +19.6% |
| Aug 20, 2025 | +4.3% | -3.7% | -0.1% | -1.9% | +2.4% |
| May 1, 2025 | +107.9% | -1.8% | -1.2% | +14.5% | +54.3% |
| Feb 4, 2025 | +100.0% | -16.1% | -17.0% | -17.7% | -27.6% |
| Oct 31, 2024 | +57.9% | -20.9% | -27.4% | -15.1% | -5.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 19, 2026 | $0.39 | $0.32 | +22.2% | $3.63B |
| May 1, 2026 | $0.91 | $0.65 | +40.4% | $3.71B |
| Feb 5, 2026 | $0.89 | $0.84 | +6.6% | $4.23B |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $0.32 | $0.18 | +82.1% | $3.48B |
| Aug 20, 2025 | $0.09 | $0.09 | +4.3% | $3.41B |
| May 1, 2025 | $0.65 | $0.31 | +107.9% | $3.55B |
| Feb 4, 2025 | $0.62 | $0.31 | +100.0% | $4.00B |
| Oct 31, 2024 | $0.14 | $0.09 | +57.9% | $3.36B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 187.7× | 65.3× | 93th | Bottom 28% |
| P/E (forward) | 27.7× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 23.7× | — | — | Bottom 23% |
| EV / Sales | 2.59× | — | — | Bottom 17% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 3.96% | — | — | Bottom 30% |
| Earnings yield | 0.53% | — | — | Bottom 28% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 26.9× – 200.0× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +6.5%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -0.2%
- RSI (14)
- 43.2
- Relative volume
- 0.90×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 44.1%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 54th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.59
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.47
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -23.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -68.3%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 4, 2022 | Apr 8, 2025 | -86.5% | 817 days | Not yet recovered |
| Sep 1, 2021 | Sep 30, 2021 | -12.9% | 20 days | 26 days (Nov 5, 2021) |
| Dec 31, 2020 | Jan 27, 2021 | -11.4% | 17 days | 7 days (Feb 5, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $33.26B
- P/E (TTM)
- 187.7
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.49
- Revenue (TTM)
- $15.05B
- Dividend yield
- 1.52%
- 52-week range
- $66.22 – $121.64
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $17.74B | $15.91B | $15.61B | $14.33B | $15.05B |
| Gross profit | $13.43B | $11.35B | $11.18B | $10.60B | $11.36B |
| Operating income | $3.17B | $1.51B | $970.0M | $1.14B | $1.68B |
| Net income | $2.39B | $1.01B | $390.0M | -$1.13B | $182.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $6.55 | $2.79 | $1.08 | -$3.15 | $0.50 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.36B | $4.00B | $3.55B | $3.41B | $3.48B | $4.23B | $3.71B | $3.63B |
| Net income | -$156.0M | -$590.0M | $159.0M | -$546.0M | $47.0M | $162.0M | $89.0M | -$116.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.43 | -$1.64 | $0.44 | -$1.51 | $0.13 | $0.44 | $0.24 | -$0.32 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $3.04B | $1.73B | $2.36B | $1.27B | $1.77B |
| Capital expenditure | -$1.04B | -$3.29B | -$919.0M | -$602.0M | -$457.0M |
| Free cash flow | $2.00B | -$1.56B | $1.44B | $670.0M | $1.32B |
| Dividends paid | -$840.0M | -$925.0M | -$947.0M | -$618.0M | -$508.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$2.16B | -$183.0M | $5.0M | -$20.0M | -$17.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $3.50B
- Total assets
- $19.76B
- Total liabilities
- $15.96B
- Total debt
- $9.25B
- Net debt
- $5.75B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $3.81B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 19, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | $0.35 | Sep 15, 2026 |
| May 29, 2026 | $0.35 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Feb 27, 2026 | $0.35 | Mar 16, 2026 |
| Nov 28, 2025 | $0.35 | Dec 15, 2025 |
| Sep 2, 2025 | $0.35 | Sep 16, 2025 |
| May 30, 2025 | $0.35 | Jun 16, 2025 |
| Feb 28, 2025 | $0.35 | Mar 17, 2025 |
| Nov 29, 2024 | $0.35 | Dec 16, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 7,097,830
- Days to cover
- 2.52
- Change vs previous report
- +2.1%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jan 23, 2012
- 2-for-1
- Jun 3, 1999
- 2-for-1