Ulta Beauty
ULTAMarket price data through October 26, 2026.
Performance
Oct 2021 – Oct 2026
Track record
How this pick has done since Benson first called it.
- Benson Return
- +10%
- How much this stock is up since Benson first picked it — measured from the price at the time of that first pick, not from today.
- First pick price
- ~$570
- Roughly what one share cost when Benson first picked this stock. This is the starting line for the Benson Return.
- Tracking since
- April 2026
- The month this stock first became a Benson pick.
- Tracking duration
- 6 months
- How long Benson has been tracking this pick.
About Ulta Beauty
Ulta Beauty is America's largest beauty store chain, the place where you can grab a 10 dollar lipstick, a 300 dollar perfume, and get your hair done under one roof. It runs 1,622 stores plus a big online business, and it recently bought Space NK, a luxury beauty chain in the U.K. and Ireland.
The case for and against
Both sides of the story, in plain English.
- Steady Sales Growth
Sales hit 3.04 billion dollars last quarter, up 8.9% from a year ago. Same-store sales rose 3.8% even though the year before was a strong 6.7%, and the average ticket climbed 3.9%.
- Profit Machine
Ulta keeps about 12.5 cents of operating profit on every dollar it sells, and net income was 282 million dollars last quarter, up 8.1%. It used that cash to buy back nearly 800 million dollars of its own stock in the first half of the year.
- Growth Is Cooling
Same-store sales growth slowed from 6.7% in the same quarter a year ago to 3.8% last quarter, and part of the sales jump came from buying Space NK rather than from Ulta stores alone. Gross margin also slipped to 39.1% as that lower-margin business was added.
- Shoppers Can Pull Back
Beauty is a want, not a need, and Ulta says inflation and economic pressure are already changing how people spend. Its cash also fell from 494 million dollars to 213 million dollars since January, while its borrowing on credit lines rose to 340 million dollars from 289 million a year ago.
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How to read this page
This automated research summary uses Financial Modeling Prep market data through 2026-10-26. Model signals, scores, and risk labels can change and may be incomplete or wrong.
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