Cosmetic store chain Ulta Beauty shared a disappointing earnings report this week that missed the analysts’ estimations across the board. This was the first time the company hadn’t managed to meet Wall Street’s expectations since 2020.
Ulta Beauty reported $5.30 in earnings per share compared to $5.46 expected by analysts. Its revenue of $2.55 billion also missed significantly as analysts estimated $2.61 billion in revenue.
The company also failed to grow its comparable sales. It recorded a 1.2% decline versus 1.2% expected growth.
This prompted Ulta Beauty to lower its predictions for the full fiscal year. It now predicts a flat to 2% decrease in same-store sales after previously expecting 2% to 3% growth.
Commenting on the disappointing results, CEO Dave Kimbell said the company has been hampered by a number of factors, including lower demand, customers becoming more value-conscious, and market changes.
“We do not believe these results reflect the strong engagement with our brand, the strength of our operating model, or the performance I know we can deliver over the longer term,” he said. “… We are clear about the factors that adversely impacted our store performance, and we have actions underway to address the trends.”
Ulta Beauty saw its stock slump by almost 8% in the aftermath of its earnings miss on Thursday before regaining some of the losses on Friday. At the most recent price of $357.34 per share, the company’s stock is 26.57% down year-to-date.