Ulta Beauty (ULTA) ended the recent trading session at $478.86, demonstrating a +2.73% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.51%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.2%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.47%.
Shares of the beauty products retailer witnessed a gain of 3.41% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its gain of 0.51%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.53%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Ulta Beauty in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $6.16, signifying a 6.57% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.97 billion, up 6.4% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $28.67 per share and a revenue of $13.21 billion, demonstrating changes of +11.82% and +6.61%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Ulta Beauty. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher within the past month. Ulta Beauty is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Ulta Beauty is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.26. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 14.48.
We can also see that ULTA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.46. 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. The Retail - Miscellaneous industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.82 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Retail - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, which puts it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow ULTA in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
This company targets millennial and Gen Z audiences, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue last quarter alone. A recent pullback makes now an ideal time to jump aboard. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.
Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).