The Estée Lauder Companies (EL) Stock Price & How to Invest
Last updated July 2026
Short answer
The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) is the prestige beauty group behind Estee Lauder, La Mer, Clinique, M.A.C, Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty and The Ordinary, with trailing twelve month net sales of ~$14.8 billion and a market value of ~$32 billion in early August 2026. Shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange as Class A stock, so exposure comes from buying EL directly in a brokerage account or from holding a consumer staples or global consumer index fund that carries it.
EL stock price
As of 2026-08-14, The Estée Lauder Companies (EL) last closed at $86.10, down 5.1% over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks it has traded between $67.23 and $119.61.
Prices are daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. For the live quote, check your broker or The Estée Lauder Companies's investor relations page. Walnut is informational, not investment advice.
What does The Estée Lauder Companies (EL) do?
Estee Lauder sells prestige beauty across four categories: skin care (~$5.5 billion of net sales in the first nine months of fiscal 2026), makeup (~$3.3 billion), fragrance (~$2.2 billion) and hair care (~$0.4 billion). The portfolio spans roughly two dozen brands, including the namesake Estee Lauder line, La Mer, Clinique, M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Too Faced, Smashbox, Dr.Jart+, Aveda, Origins, Le Labo, Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty, Frederic Malle and The Ordinary. Distribution runs through department stores, perfumeries, specialty multi-brand retailers, freestanding stores, e-commerce, third-party marketplaces and travel retail, with the travel retail business reported inside the Asia/Pacific region. Geographically the company is split between the Americas (~$3.5 billion in the nine months), Europe, the UK, Ireland and emerging markets (~$2.9 billion), Asia/Pacific (~$2.8 billion) and Mainland China (~$2.2 billion), which makes China and Asian travel retail unusually important to results.
The investment picture is a repair job in progress. Fiscal 2025 net sales fell ~8% to ~$14.3 billion and the company posted a net loss of ~$1.1 billion after ~$861 million of goodwill and intangible impairments plus talc settlement charges. Through the first nine months of fiscal 2026 net sales rose ~5% as reported to ~$11.4 billion, operating income swung to ~$819 million from a ~$395 million loss, and management raised full-year guidance to ~3% organic sales growth with adjusted operating margin of 10.7% to 11.0% and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.35 to $2.45. Reported profitability still lags because the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan restructuring is running at ~$1.5 billion to ~$1.7 billion of pre-tax charges and 9,000 to 10,000 net position reductions, tariffs are expected to cost ~$100 million of fiscal 2026 profit, and an $84 million net charge for a securities class action settlement landed in the March quarter. Fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full-year results are scheduled for August 19, 2026.
What's driving The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)?
1. Margin recovery from the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan
Adjusted operating margin reached 15.0% in the March 2026 quarter versus 11.4% a year earlier, and adjusted gross margin expanded 140 basis points to 76.4%. Management attributes most of that to PRGP savings landing faster than planned, funded partly by cutting non-consumer-facing costs. Company guidance calls for adjusted operating margin of 10.7% to 11.0% in fiscal 2026 and a preliminary 12.5% to 13.0% in fiscal 2027, which would be the first sustained margin rebuild in four years.
2. China and Asian travel retail stabilising
Mainland China net sales grew to ~$774 million in the March quarter from ~$696 million, and Mainland China operating income more than doubled to ~$159 million, with the company saying it gained prestige beauty share. Asian travel retail remains a swing factor and is still absorbing a transitory headwind from the change of duty-free operators at the Beijing and Shanghai airports. Because travel retail sits inside the Asia/Pacific region, recovery there flows straight into the segment that carries the group's highest reported margin.
3. Fragrance as the growth engine
Fragrance net sales rose to ~$2.16 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2026 from ~$1.93 billion, growing double digits organically, and swung to ~$212 million of category operating income from a ~$354 million loss. Le Labo, Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty and Frederic Malle sit in a premium niche segment that has held pricing power while makeup has been competitive. Skin care remains the largest and most profitable category at ~$5.49 billion of sales and ~$1.09 billion of category operating income.
4. Beauty Reimagined and the One ELC operating model
The current strategic frame, introduced after the fiscal 2025 leadership change to Stephane de La Faverie, prioritises faster innovation cycles, broader consumer coverage and reallocating savings into consumer-facing spend. Management describes the One Operating Ecosystem as fully deployed during fiscal 2027. Preliminary fiscal 2027 guidance of 3% to 5% net sales growth is the first multi-year growth framework the company has offered since the travel retail downturn began.
What are the risks to The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)?
Reported earnings remain negative on a trailing twelve month basis, with a net loss of ~$248 million and EPS of ~-$0.69, so the valuation rests on adjusted and forward numbers rather than delivered GAAP profit. Leverage is meaningful at ~$9.3 billion of total debt against ~$3.1 billion of cash, roughly ~$6.2 billion net, while the Class A buyback has been suspended since December 2022 and the dividend was cut to $0.35 per quarter. A securities class action in the Southern District of New York (In re The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 1:23-cv-10669, S.D.N.Y.) over travel retail and daigou disclosures survived a motion to dismiss in March 2025 and reached an agreement in principle to settle for $210 million on April 2, 2026, with preliminary approval granted May 13, 2026 and a final approval hearing set for August 20, 2026; several shareholder derivative suits over the same conduct remain outstanding in New York and Delaware, and cosmetic talcum powder asbestos claims are being resolved under settlement frameworks running through 2029. Tariffs are expected to reduce fiscal 2026 profitability by ~$100 million, and because tariff costs are capitalised in inventory for roughly six months, later rate reductions do not help the current year. Middle East disruption, which touched ~2% of fiscal 2025 net sales, was flagged as a larger drag on the June 2026 quarter than on the March quarter.
What is the The Estée Lauder Companies (EL) forecast?
26 analysts publish price targets on EL, averaging $95.85 against a $88.35 price as of August 2026, or +8.5%. The published targets run from $70.00 to $125.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 13 buy, 14 hold, 1 sell. Over the last six months there have been 9 raises and 2 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.
Read the full EL forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.
Is EL a buy or a sell?
We give no verdict on The Estée Lauder Companies. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.
The case for buying. Margin recovery from the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan. Adjusted operating margin reached 15.0% in the March 2026 quarter versus 11.4% a year earlier, and adjusted gross margin expanded 140 basis points to 76.4%. The most optimistic published target, $125.00, assumes this works close to its best case.
The case against. Reported earnings remain negative on a trailing twelve month basis, with a net loss of ~$248 million and EPS of ~-$0.69, so the valuation rests on adjusted and forward numbers rather than delivered GAAP profit. The most pessimistic target, $70.00, is roughly what EL is worth if this bites instead.
Read the full bull and bear case on EL, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
How is The Estée Lauder Companies (EL) valued? (approximate, August 2026)
A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see The Estée Lauder Companies's investor relations page or your broker.
- Revenue (TTM): ~$14.8 billion
- Net income (TTM): ~-$248 million, EPS ~-$0.69
- Gross / operating margin (TTM): ~74.7% gross, ~2.9% operating
- Market capitalisation: ~$32 billion at ~$88 per share
- Fiscal 2026 company guidance: ~3% organic sales growth, 10.7% to 11.0% adjusted operating margin, $2.35 to $2.45 adjusted diluted EPS
- Dividend: $0.35 per quarter, ~$1.40 annualised, ~1.6% yield; buyback suspended since December 2022
Priced against the midpoint of the company's own fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of ~$2.40, EL trades near ~37 times adjusted earnings, and closer to ~29 times consensus for the following year. No trailing price to earnings ratio exists because GAAP earnings are negative. The gap between a ~74.7% gross margin and a ~2.9% operating margin is where the whole debate sits: restructuring charges of ~$520 million in nine months plus the settlement charge sit between the two, and the multiple reflects an assumption that most of them do not repeat.
Who competes with The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)?
Global prestige beauty groups
L'Oreal is the scale leader and owns Lancome, Kiehl's, Yves Saint Laurent Beaute and CeraVe; LVMH's perfumes and cosmetics division carries Dior, Guerlain and Fenty; Puig owns Charlotte Tilbury, Rabanne and Byredo; Shiseido, Beiersdorf and Coty round out the set. These are the direct competitors for department store counters, perfumery shelf space, travel retail doors and prestige fragrance licences, and several of them have taken share in the categories where Estee Lauder's makeup brands stalled.
Mass and hybrid personal care
Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kenvue and e.l.f. Beauty compete for the same consumer at lower price points, and trading down is a live risk when discretionary budgets tighten. e.l.f. in particular has grown by pricing well below prestige makeup while matching formulations and social media reach, which pressures Too Faced, Smashbox and parts of M.A.C.
Channel owners and regional challengers
Ulta Beauty, Sephora (LVMH), Douglas and Amazon control much of the shelf and increasingly promote their own labels, which affects both distribution economics and pricing. In Asia, Chinese brands such as Proya and a broad set of Korean skin care exporters have won share in the exact markets where Estee Lauder's China and travel retail business is trying to recover.
What stocks are similar to The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)?
Other names that sit close to EL: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.
How to invest in The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)
There are three common ways to get EL exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so EL sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.
Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where EL fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.
New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.
The bottom line on The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)
EL is a turnaround story in prestige beauty: sales have started growing again and adjusted margins are expanding off a low base, while reported profits remain weighed down by a large restructuring program, tariffs and a $210 million securities settlement.
More on The Estée Lauder Companies (EL)
Whether EL is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is EL a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the EL stock forecast.
For income investors, whether EL pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does EL pay a dividend? And to weigh EL against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: EL vs LVMUY and EL vs COTY.
Wondering how EL fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in The Estée Lauder Companies with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how EL fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What does Estee Lauder actually sell?
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Prestige beauty in four categories: skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care. Skin care is the largest at ~$5.5 billion of net sales in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, ahead of makeup at ~$3.3 billion and fragrance at ~$2.2 billion. Roughly two dozen brands sit under the group, including La Mer, Clinique, M.A.C, Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty and The Ordinary.
Why is Estee Lauder unprofitable on a GAAP basis?
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Trailing twelve month net income is ~-$248 million. Fiscal 2025 carried ~$861 million of goodwill and intangible impairments plus ~$159 million of talc settlement charges, and fiscal 2026 has absorbed ~$520 million of restructuring charges in nine months plus an $84 million net securities settlement charge. Adjusted operating income was ~$557 million in the March 2026 quarter, which is the number management points to.
Is there a pending securities class action against Estee Lauder?
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The consolidated 10(b) case, In re The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 1:23-cv-10669 in the Southern District of New York, has been settled rather than litigated to judgment. Defendants' motion to dismiss was denied in March 2025, the parties reached an agreement in principle on April 2, 2026 for $210 million, the court granted preliminary approval on May 13, 2026, and a final approval hearing is scheduled for August 20, 2026. Separate shareholder derivative suits over the same disclosures remain outstanding.
How large is the restructuring program?
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The Profit Recovery and Growth Plan restructuring is now sized at ~$1.5 billion to ~$1.7 billion of pre-tax charges and a net reduction of 9,000 to 10,000 positions globally, expanded from an earlier 5,800 to 7,000 range. Cumulative charges approved through April 29, 2026 total ~$1.42 billion. Initiatives are expected to be approved by the end of fiscal 2026 and substantially completed by the end of fiscal 2027.
How exposed is Estee Lauder to China?
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Mainland China generated ~$2.23 billion of net sales in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, about 20% of the total, and Asian travel retail sits inside the Asia/Pacific region on top of that. Mainland China operating income more than doubled year over year in the March quarter to ~$159 million. Because travel retail served Chinese consumers through duty-free channels, the two exposures tend to move together.
Does Estee Lauder pay a dividend?
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Yes, $0.35 per share quarterly on both Class A and Class B stock, roughly $1.40 annualised for a yield near ~1.6% at ~$88 per share. The payout was reduced from prior levels during the downturn, and share repurchases under the publicly announced program have been suspended since December 2022.
How would someone hold EL inside a thematic group of stocks?
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EL is a NYSE-listed Class A share, so it can be bought like any other US-listed stock in a brokerage account, including in fractional amounts at brokers that support them. Investors who group holdings by theme often place it alongside other global consumer brand owners rather than with domestic staples, because most of its sales and nearly all of its growth come from outside the United States.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Financial figures on this page are approximations; always verify current numbers with The Estée Lauder Companies's investor relations page or your broker before making investment decisions.