Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Specialty Retail
Ulta Beauty, Inc. ULTA
$543.69 +1.11% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $23.37B
High qualityLow risk
Next earnings report: Dec 3, 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
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $12.96B, up 11.2% from a year earlier.
- The diluted share count fell 3.5% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Cyclical 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 22%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 47%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 48%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 27%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 46%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 6%
- Gross marginTop 42%
- Operating marginTop 26%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 28%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 46%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 29%
- Interest coverTop 7%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 43%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 42%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 47%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 31%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 40%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 49%
- 6-month returnTop 49%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 45%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 43%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 47%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 45%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 48%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 36%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 25%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 26%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 32%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 17%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 29%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 11.3% | 11.2% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 4.2% | 5.3% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 39.0% | 39.3% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 13.7% | 12.6% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 8.2% | 8.2% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 11.2% | 11.3% | ↓ | Top 22% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 5.3% | 4.2% | ↑ | Top 47% |
| Gross margin | 39.3% | 39.0% | ↑ | Top 42% |
| Operating margin | 12.6% | 13.7% | ↓ | Top 26% |
| Net margin | 9.3% | 10.3% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 8.2% | 8.2% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 23.1% | — | Top 6% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 6.7% | — | Top 27% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.30×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -5.2%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -0.1 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 1.22×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 146.9×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 5.87%
- Shareholder yield
- 5.87%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -3.5%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -4.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 1, 2026 (filed Aug 27, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +7.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $624.93
- Target vs current price
- +14.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 47
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 60%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27, 2026 | +5.3% | -0.6% | +1.6% | +1.0% | — |
| Jun 2, 2026 | +12.3% | -1.2% | -7.6% | -9.9% | +8.5% |
| Mar 12, 2026 | -1.1% | -4.3% | -20.2% | -18.4% | -28.4% |
| Dec 4, 2025 | +11.5% | -1.9% | +10.3% | +13.9% | +22.9% |
| Aug 28, 2025 | +13.3% | -0.6% | -0.8% | +1.1% | -7.0% |
| May 29, 2025 | +15.3% | +1.1% | +11.7% | +9.7% | +27.0% |
| Mar 13, 2025 | +18.7% | -4.5% | +4.4% | +10.3% | +41.4% |
| Dec 5, 2024 | +13.5% | -1.7% | +7.6% | +7.9% | -12.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27, 2026 | $6.55 | $6.22 | +5.3% | $3.04B |
| Jun 2, 2026 | $7.74 | $6.89 | +12.3% | $3.16B |
| Mar 12, 2026 | $8.01 | $8.10 | -1.1% | $3.90B |
| Dec 4, 2025 | $5.14 | $4.61 | +11.5% | $2.86B |
| Aug 28, 2025 | $5.78 | $5.10 | +13.3% | $2.79B |
| May 29, 2025 | $6.70 | $5.81 | +15.3% | $2.85B |
| Mar 13, 2025 | $8.46 | $7.13 | +18.7% | $3.49B |
| Dec 5, 2024 | $5.14 | $4.53 | +13.5% | $2.53B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 19.8× | 19.7× | 62th | Top 43% |
| P/E (forward) | 18.7× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 13.3× | — | — | Bottom 47% |
| EV / Sales | 1.99× | — | — | Bottom 31% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 4.57% | — | — | Bottom 42% |
| Earnings yield | 5.05% | — | — | Top 43% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 14.6× – 30.0× since Jul 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -2.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +5.3%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -3.4%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
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
- 49
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +6.0%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +1.7%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -2.2%
- RSI (14)
- 51.2
- Relative volume
- 0.67×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 32.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 45th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.63
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.27
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -23.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -44.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 13, 2024 | Mar 13, 2025 | -44.6% | 250 days | 185 days (Dec 5, 2025) |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Jun 17, 2026 | -36.2% | 84 days | Not yet recovered |
| Apr 28, 2023 | Oct 20, 2023 | -32.6% | 121 days | 86 days (Feb 26, 2024) |
| Apr 20, 2022 | May 24, 2022 | -20.7% | 24 days | 72 days (Sep 7, 2022) |
| Oct 16, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -16.8% | 8 days | 8 days (Nov 9, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $23.37B
- P/E (TTM)
- 19.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $27.47
- Revenue (TTM)
- $12.96B
- 52-week range
- $443.60 – $714.97
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $8.63B | $10.21B | $11.21B | $11.30B | $12.39B |
| Gross profit | $3.37B | $4.04B | $4.38B | $4.39B | $4.85B |
| Operating income | $1.25B | $1.65B | $1.69B | $1.58B | $1.55B |
| Net income | $985.8M | $1.24B | $1.29B | $1.20B | $1.15B |
| EPS (diluted) | $17.98 | $24.01 | $26.03 | $25.34 | $25.64 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.53B | $3.49B | $2.85B | $2.79B | $2.86B | $3.90B | $3.16B | $3.04B |
| Net income | $242.2M | $393.3M | $305.1M | $260.9M | $230.9M | $356.7M | $340.5M | $282.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $5.14 | $8.46 | $6.70 | $5.78 | $5.14 | $8.02 | $7.74 | $6.57 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $1.06B | $1.48B | $1.48B | $1.34B | $1.50B |
| Capital expenditure | -$172.2M | -$312.1M | -$435.3M | -$374.5M | -$434.8M |
| Free cash flow | $887.1M | $1.17B | $1.04B | $964.1M | $1.07B |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.54B | -$907.0M | -$1.02B | -$1.03B | -$901.4M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $213.5M
- Total assets
- $6.96B
- Total liabilities
- $4.32B
- Total debt
- $2.52B
- Net debt
- $2.37B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.64B
As of Aug 1, 2026 (filed Aug 27, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2012 | $1.00 | May 15, 2012 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,442,845
- Days to cover
- 4.30
- Change vs previous report
- +9.0%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.