Ulta Beauty announced its fourth quarter financial results on Thursday.
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ulta beauty Earnings per share reported Thursday were lower than expected, but sales beat Wall Street expectations.
The company’s shares fell about 8% in extended trading.
According to LSEG estimates, the company’s results for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 compared to Wall Street expectations.
Earnings per share: $8.01 vs. $8.03 expected Revenue: $3.9 billion vs. $3.8 billion expected
The company’s net sales increased 11.8% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. For the full year 2025, Ulta reported a 9.7% increase in net sales to $12.4 billion.
The company said gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased slightly, due in part to fixed costs and revenue deleveraging, but was offset by lower inventory shrinkage and supply chain efficiencies.
For fiscal 2026, Ulta said it expects net sales to increase 6% to 7% and diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $28.05 to $28.55. The midpoint of its EPS guidance of $28.30 was slightly lower than the midpoint of $28.40 that analysts were expecting for 2026.
The company also predicted same-store sales in 2026 to be between 2.5% and 3.5%, compared to expectations of a maximum of 3.5%, according to Street Account.
Analysts had high expectations for the company’s financial results report. Oppenheimer analysts wrote in a note Wednesday that they expect Ulta’s fourth-quarter results to be “strong.”
“Our better-than-planned financial performance reflects our continued focus on serving our guests and delivering great experiences across the board through better execution, compelling new innovations, more seamless and convenient experiences, and bold new merchandising and marketing strategies,” CEO Keshia Steelman said in a statement.
This will be the company’s first earnings report since Christopher DelOrefice took over as Ulta’s chief financial officer in early December.
Correction: The photo caption in this article has been corrected to reflect that Ulta Beauty reported fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. A previous version of the caption incorrectly identified the quarter in which the company reported.
