Ulta Beauty (ULTA) versus Its Competitors Financial Review

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) is one of 285 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialty Retail” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Ulta Beauty to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Ulta Beauty has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ulta Beauty’s rivals have a beta of 1.66, suggesting that their average stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ulta Beauty and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ulta Beauty	$12.96 billion	$1.15 billion	23.34
Ulta Beauty Competitors	$7.29 billion	$386.47 million	31.96

Ulta Beauty has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Ulta Beauty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Ulta Beauty and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ulta Beauty	9.34%	45.40%	17.37%
Ulta Beauty Competitors	-3.67%	-13.85%	3.19%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.4% of Ulta Beauty shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Ulta Beauty shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Ulta Beauty and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ulta Beauty	0	8	23	1	2.78
Ulta Beauty Competitors	3661	15554	21586	584	2.46

Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus price target of $631.30, indicating a potential downside of 1.42%. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies have a potential upside of 9.20%. Given Ulta Beauty’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ulta Beauty has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

Ulta Beauty beats its rivals on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty, Inc. operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States. 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 offers beauty services, including hair, makeup, brow, and skin services at its stores. 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.