Ulta Beauty Shares Slide 7% After Missing Q2 Estimates and Slashing Full-Year Outlook

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) reported disappointing second-quarter earnings, missing analyst expectations and slashing its full-year outlook, which led to a 7% drop in its stock pre-market today.

The beauty retailer posted adjusted earnings per share of $5.30, falling short of the $5.51 Street estimate. Revenue for the quarter increased by 0.9% year-over-year to $2.55 billion, but missed expectations of $2.62 billion.

In response to the weaker-than-expected performance, Ulta Beauty significantly cut its fiscal 2024 guidance. The company now anticipates full-year earnings per share of $22.60 to $23.50, well below the previous Street consensus of $25.26. Additionally, the full-year revenue forecast was lowered to a range of $11 to $11.2 billion, down from the $11.495 billion that analysts had projected.

CEO Dave Kimbell expressed disappointment with the results, noting that while there were positive indicators within the business, the decline in comparable store sales was the primary driver of the underperformance.

The company's gross profit margin also declined to 38.3% from 39.3% a year earlier, largely due to lower merchandise margins and the deleverage of fixed store costs.