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Ulta Beauty, Inc.

Rank #31Capital Return

ULTA · Nasdaq · Consumer Cyclical

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA) — Rank #31 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.70) · ROE 43.6% · Piotroski F-Score N/A.

As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0001403568 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

Ulta Beauty, Inc. operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States, Mexico, and Kuwait.

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The company offers branded and private label beauty products, including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools through its Ulta Beauty stores, shop-in-shops, Ulta.com website, and its mobile applications. It also provides wellness products. The company was formerly known as ULTA Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. and changed its name to Ulta Beauty, Inc. in January 2017. Ulta Beauty, Inc.

was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

Industry
Specialty Retail
Sector
Consumer Cyclical
Filer Category
Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End
January 30
Website
ulta.com

Price History

ULTA+44.6% · +7.7% CAGRSPY+80.3% · +12.5% CAGR

Company Snapshot

P/E and reverse DCF are the primary valuation lenses at this stage.

Market Cap

$23.05B

P/E (annual)

21.0

P/S (annual)

1.9

P/B

8.7

P/OCF (annual)

15.3

Shareholder Yield

5.1%

Employees

21,382

Industry

Specialty Retail

Exchange

Nasdaq

Signal Flags

3 green1 red
Revenue growth acceleratingGrowth rate increasing year over year
Deferred revenue growingRevenue and deferred revenue both growing — retention signal
Sequential beat (rev + EPS)Both revenue and EPS exceeded prior quarter — 2-quarter streak
Operating margin decliningOperating margin lower than prior year

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass
GP / assets
0.70
Return on equity
43.6%
Gross margin trend
PASS

Safety

1/1 pass
Balance-sheet safety
PASS
Debt / equity
1.63
Current ratio
1.35×
Net cash
-$126.13M

Cash Flow

2/3 pass
Positive FCF
PASS
Cash-backed earnings
WARN
Accruals healthy
PASS
SBC / revenue
0.3%

Growth

2/2 pass
Revenue growth
9.7%
Piotroski F-Score
N/A
Share dilution
-5.1%

Terry Smith quality gate

Passes 2/5 Terry Smith thresholds

1 of 5 threshold not computable from filed data.

What Growth Is Priced In

Implied revenue growth (10Y)

9.4%

incredible deal

The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).

Buyback tailwind: -5.1% — per-share value needs a total required return of 4.4% once share-count change is priced in.

vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: 9.7%

within its own history

Cost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)

r = 8%

5.0%

r = 10% (base)

9.4%

r = 12%

13.3%

Net debt / market cap: 0.5%

Base FCF: $1.1B3Y mean FCF: $1B

Valuation History

Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.

P / E

Price / diluted EPS

20.3xFair
14.4xmed 21.7x97.4x

P / S

Price / revenue per share

1.9xCheap
1.4xmed 2.6x4.5x

P / B

Price / book value per share

8.4xCheap
5.3xmed 11.3x14.1x

P / GP

Price / gross profit per share

4.8xCheap
3.8xmed 6.5x12.5x

P / FCF

Price / free cash flow per share

22.0xCheap
12.6xmed 24.5x83.7x

FCF yield, shareholder yield, and buyback activity are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.70

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

5th of 14 SIC 59 peers

Return on equity

43.6%

Gross margin

39.1%

7th of 14 SIC 59 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

9.7%

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2023202420252026
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

6.7%

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

15.0%

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

-2.4%

FCF CAGR (3Y)

-3.0%

Anti-fragile safety

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

1.63

8th of 10 SIC 59 peers (best = lowest)

Current ratio

1.35×

12th of 14 SIC 59 peers

Quick ratio

0.22×

Net cash

-$126.13M

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Cash-flow health

Free cash flow

$1.07B

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF / net income

-0.07

Cash-backing of earnings.

FCF/NI divergence

Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).

WARN

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

0.3%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Piotroski F-Score

F-Score

N/A

Only 8/9 components determinable.

Lifecycle Phase History

20212026
Decline
Hypergrowth
Capital Return
View full financial statements →