Ulta Beauty Shares Drop 7% After Soft Outlook Despite Strong Q4 Results

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) shares fell more than 7% in premarket trading Friday after the cosmetics retailer issued guidance that fell slightly short of expectations, despite reporting stronger-than-anticipated fourth-quarter results.

For fiscal 2027, Ulta expects earnings between $28.05 and $28.55 per share, compared with analyst forecasts of $28.57 per share. The company also projected net sales growth of 6% to 7% and earnings growth of approximately 9.4% to 11.4%.

Comparable sales are expected to increase between 2.5% and 3.5%.

For the fourth quarter, Ulta reported earnings of $8.01 per share, exceeding analyst estimates of $7.93. Revenue reached $3.9 billion, surpassing expectations of $3.81 billion.

Comparable sales increased 5.8% during the quarter, supported by a 4.2% rise in average ticket size and a 1.6% increase in transaction volume.

Net sales rose 11.8% year over year, driven by stronger comparable sales, the acquisition of Space NK, and contributions from new store openings.