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

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Ulta Beauty (ULTA - Free Report) closed at $360.47 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.6% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.57%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.28%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.63%.

Shares of the beauty products retailer have depreciated by 4.59% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 6.19% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.15%.

The upcoming earnings release of Ulta Beauty will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on December 5, 2024. In that report, analysts expect Ulta Beauty to post earnings of $4.45 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 12.23%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.48 billion, down 0.28% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $23.07 per share and a revenue of $11.16 billion, demonstrating changes of -11.37% and -0.43%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Ulta Beauty should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Ulta Beauty is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Ulta Beauty has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.72 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.09.

Investors should also note that ULTA has a PEG ratio of 2.08 right now. 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. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Retail - Miscellaneous industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.08.

The Retail - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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