Inside an Ulta store in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Ulta Beauty said on Thursday that sales and profit in the fourth quarter fell from the previous year, affected by weaker sales of cosmetics during the pandemic.
Although the decline was smaller than expected, the shares declined as the beauty retailer gave a disappointing outlook for next year. Ulta shares fell more than 8% after the bell rang.
The company also announced that its CEO, Mary Dillon, will resign in June and will be replaced by President Dave Kimbell.
Dillon will also serve as executive chairman of the company’s board of directors.
Kecia Steelman, chief operating officer of the Ulta store, will be promoted to executive director.
Here’s what the company reported for the fourth quarter, compared to what Wall Street analysts expected, using a poll from Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: 3.41 USD, adjusted compared to 2.35 USD expected
- Revenue: $ 2.2 billion compared to $ 2.08 billion expected
“The Ulta Beauty team achieved better results than expected for the fourth quarter. The strong enterprise-wide execution of our plans, combined with improving consumer demand trends, has led to solid results in several values, including sales, transactions and profitability, ”Dillon said in a press release.
Ulta reported fourth-quarter tax revenue of $ 171.5 million, or $ 3.03 per share, compared to $ 222.7 million, or $ 3.89 per share, a year earlier.
Except for the articles, Ulta earned $ 3.41 per share, exceeding $ 2.35 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Net sales it dropped to $ 2.2 billion from $ 2.31 billion a year ago, exceeding expectations of $ 2.08 billion.
Sales at stores open for at least 14 months have fallen by 4.8% recently, affected by fewer transactions. The company said that transactions decreased by 12.2%, however, the average purchase per ticket increased by 8.3%.
For fiscal year 2021, Ulta is expected to earn between $ 8.85 and $ 9.30 per share on revenue of $ 7.2 billion to $ 7.3 billion. The earnings forecast includes the impact of share repurchases of approximately $ 850 million.
Analysts expected Ulta to earn $ 10.61 per share with revenue of $ 7.32 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Sales at the same store are expected to be between 15% and 17%, the company said.
Ulta plans to open 40 new stores and remodel about 21 stores next year.
In November, Ulta announced plans to open small cosmetics stores in hundreds of Target stores across the country to achieve higher sales and expand its coverage.
The cosmetics retailer was injured by the temporary closure of stores during the pandemic. After reopening stores in July, the company saw a strong return to demand in its mobile app and e-commerce site.
Read the full version of the revenue here.