Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA) Stock Price & How to Invest

Ulta Beauty operates the largest beauty retail chain in the US. The differentiation is unusual within beauty retail: Ulta sells products across the full price range, from drugstore-tier (Maybelline, L'Oréal Paris, e.l.f.) to mass-prestige (Clinique, Lancôme, Tarte) to luxury (Chanel, Dior, MAC, Pat McGrath). Each store has a salon for hair services, plus brow bars and increasingly skin services, which drives store traffic beyond just retail.

Ultamate Rewards (the loyalty program) has over 40 million active members and is one of the largest beauty loyalty programs in the world. Member purchases are over 90% of company revenue, providing detailed customer data and recurring engagement. Founded in 1990, headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Kecia Steelman became CEO in 2025, replacing Dave Kimbell.

The 2026 story has been a return to growth. In the quarter ended August 1, 2026, revenue rose about 8.9% year on year to roughly $3.04 billion and EPS of $6.55 beat the $6.20 consensus, after a $7.74 result in the April quarter that also topped estimates ($6.91). Ulta raised its full-year outlook at the end of September, with e-commerce momentum cited as a driver, and the stock gained about 22% over three months. Trailing twelve-month revenue is now about $12.96 billion, net income about $1.21 billion, and the operating margin about 12.5%, lower than the ~15% of earlier years as the company spends on stores, wellness and digital. The next report is scheduled for December 3, 2026, where consensus looks for about $5.61 of EPS on roughly $2.99 billion of revenue.

Sephora's expansion through Kohl's partnership has narrowed Ulta's geographic advantage. Same-store sales growth decelerated in 2024-2025; the 2026 rebound has to prove durable rather than a short recovery. Mass beauty brand consolidation (e.g., e.l.f. taking share) creates pricing pressure. Margin is the other watch item: operating margin has slipped to about 12.5% from roughly 15%, and debt (including leases) of about $2.5 billion sits against only about $213 million of cash. After a 22% three-month rally, the forward P/E near 18.6x leaves less room for a holiday-season miss.

25 analysts publish price targets on ULTA, averaging $631.44 against a $592.94 price as of October 2026, or +6.5%. The published targets run from $500.00 to $731.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 19 buy, 9 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 5 raises and 5 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 ULTA forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Ulta Beauty, Inc.. 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. Beauty category resilience. Beauty has historically held up well during economic downturns (the 'lipstick effect': consumers continue to indulge in affordable luxuries even when cutting other spending). The most optimistic published target, $731.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Sephora's expansion through Kohl's partnership has narrowed Ulta's geographic advantage. The most pessimistic target, $500.00, is roughly what ULTA is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on ULTA, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Ulta Beauty, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$12.96 billion
• Revenue growth (latest quarter): ~+8.9% year on year (Q2 FY2026 revenue ~$3.04 billion)
• Margins: Gross ~43%, operating ~12.5%, net ~9.3%
• Net income (TTM): ~$1.21 billion
• EPS: ~$27.44 trailing; latest quarter $6.55 vs $6.20 consensus
• P/E: ~21.8x trailing, ~18.6x forward
• Market cap: ~$25.6 billion at ~$598 per share (Oct 16, 2026)
• Dividend yield: None (no dividend; share buybacks instead)
• Free cash flow: ~$0.9 billion (TTM)

Ulta's multiple has moved back up from the ~18x trailing P/E of early 2026 to about 21.8x as the stock rallied on beats and a raised outlook, while the forward P/E of ~18.6x still sits below the peak levels of 2021-2023. Consensus expects EPS near $28.95 for the year ending January 2027 and about $32 the year after, so the valuation now leans on revenue growth holding near the high single digits.

These are the investment theses ULTA naturally fits into. Each links to a full theme guide listing every other stock that belongs and the ETFs commonly used as a passive proxy.

Other names that sit close to ULTA: 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.

There are three common ways to get ULTA 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 ULTA sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where ULTA 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.

Ulta Beauty (ULTA) is a category-leading specialty retailer whose durable loyalty franchise and services traffic offset a cyclical consumer-discretionary backdrop and intensifying Sephora competition. In a portfolio it behaves as a consumer-discretionary, quality-compounder holding tied to US beauty spending and store traffic, not a defensive or high-growth position.

Whether ULTA 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 ULTA a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the ULTA stock forecast.

For income investors, whether ULTA pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does ULTA pay a dividend? And to weigh ULTA against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: ULTA vs COST and ULTA vs TJX.