Ulta Beauty (ULTA) reported strong fiscal second-quarter 2026 results, with higher sales and profits prompting the beauty retailer to raise its full-year financial outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Net sales increased 8.9% year over year to $3.04 billion<\/strong>, compared with $2.79 billion in the prior-year quarter. Growth was driven by higher comparable sales, new store openings and the acquisition of Space NK. Comparable sales increased 3.8%<\/strong>, although that marked a slowdown from 6.7% growth a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Profitability also improved. Operating income climbed 10.1% to $379.6 million<\/strong>, while operating margin edged higher to 12.5% from 12.4%. Diluted earnings per share increased 13.3% to $6.55<\/strong>, compared with $5.78 in the year-ago period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gross profit rose 8.7% to approximately $1.2 billion, while gross margin slipped slightly to 39.1% from 39.2%, primarily reflecting the impact of the Space NK business mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CEO Kecia Steelman said the results demonstrate continued execution of the company’s \u201cUlta Beauty Unleashed\u201d strategy, with the retailer focused on product innovation, value, customer experiences and convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following its strong first-half performance, Ulta raised its fiscal 2026 outlook. The company now expects net sales growth of 6.7% to 7.2%<\/strong>, up from its previous forecast of 6% to 7%. Comparable sales are projected to increase between 3.2% and 3.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ulta also lifted its diluted EPS forecast to $28.70 to $29.00<\/strong>, compared with its previous range of $28.36 to $28.80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company is also becoming more aggressive with capital returns. Ulta increased its expected fiscal 2026 stock repurchases to $1.8 billion from $1.5 billion<\/strong> and plans to utilize the remaining $1 billion under its existing authorization by year-end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The combination of stronger earnings, higher guidance and expanded buybacks underscores management\u2019s confidence in Ulta\u2019s ability to deliver profitable growth despite a dynamic consumer environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Earnings climb 13% as sales top $3 billion and retailer boosts planned share repurchases to $1.8 billion Ulta Beauty (ULTA) reported strong fiscal second-quarter 2026 results, with higher sales and profits prompting the beauty retailer to raise its full-year financial outlook. Net sales increased 8.9% year over year to $3.04 billion, compared with $2.79 billion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[]},"categories":[407,361,321,381],"tags":[420,416,418,417,504],"coauthors":[454],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11121,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11120\/revisions\/11121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11120"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}