Ulta shares fall despite Q2 earnings beat

Dive Brief:

Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance on Thursday reported its seventh straight quarter of double digit sales growth. Second quarter same-store sales rose 14.4% compared to a 10.1% spike in the year-ago quarter, with e-commerce sales increasing 54.9%.
Retail same-store sales jumped 12.6% during the period, and Ulta's salon same-store sales grew 8%.That handily topped analyst expectations for a 12.9% same-store sales rise in the quarter. Q2 profit was $90 million, or $1.43 per share, up from Q2 2015 profit of $74.2 million, or $1.15 per share. Revenue rose 22% to $1.07 billion.
Ulta shares nevertheless dipped 2% in after-hours trading because the retailer set expectations for the third quarter between $1.25 and $1.30 per share, and the middle of that range misses analysts’ expectations for $1.29 per share.

Dive Insight:

There may not be a better snapshot than this how tetchy analysts can be, sending Ulta shares down even when a retailer is opening stores, stoking sales online and off, and eclipsing investor expectations. But the slip was likely a small adjustment, considering that Ulta stock has increased 77% over the past 12 months.

Ulta finished out the second quarter with 907 stores, totaling more than 9.5 million square feet of retail space in all — an 11% increase in square footage compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2015. The company opened 24 new locations in Q2 and closed three stores during the period.

Ulta plans to open add another 100 net new stores, expanding its square footage another 11%, and remodel 12 locations, according to a press release. The firm also pledged to increase total sales in the high teens percentage range and boost e-commerce sales in the 40% range.

“The Ulta Beauty team achieved another quarter of excellent top and bottom line performance, while making significant progress on many elements of our growth strategy,” CEO Mary Dillon said in a statement. “Our second quarter results reflect a strong pipeline of newness and innovation in merchandising, progress in growing our brand awareness, major milestones related to our loyalty program, continued rapid growth in our e-commerce business, and successful execution of our supply chain investments.”