ULTA

Ulta Beauty, Inc. ·Nasdaq Global Select·Consumer Discretionary
531.98 live · 2026-08-12 15:59
60.1%
Brown Bear Score
64.4%
Business Conviction Score
64.1%
Position Health Score
19.7%
Chase Risk
Daily closes

Daily closes · 1Y (252 sessions) · +3.1% · range 450.75–706.82

The Businesswhat the company reports

Business & cash flow

FCF / assets 15.3%
OCF / assets 21.5%
FCF / revenue 12.1%
Gross margin 43.2%
ROIC 32.4%
Forward P/E 16.7

FCF/assets and OCF/assets are the cash-flow measures Brown Bear's own testing found to survive; FCF/revenue is shown alongside for context. Assets are from the latest annual filing (FY2025).

Price vs Earnings growth

Forward EPS growth has outpaced trailing price return by +18.5pp

Confidence 95.0/100

Takeaway Earnings growth is outpacing price — consistent with the stock not yet fully reflecting its improving forward estimates.

Reported earnings

Next report 2026-08-27 · consensus EPS 6.29

Q3 23 revenue: 2.53bnQ3 23 net income: 300.10mQ3 23 EPS: 6.02Q4 23 revenue: 2.49bnQ4 23 net income: 249.48mQ4 23 EPS: 5.07Q4 23Q1 24 revenue: 3.55bnQ1 24 net income: 394.37mQ1 24 EPS: 7.95Q2 24 revenue: 2.73bnQ2 24 net income: 313.11mQ2 24 EPS: 6.47Q2 24Q3 24 revenue: 2.55bnQ3 24 net income: 252.56mQ3 24 EPS: 5.30Q4 24 revenue: 2.53bnQ4 24 net income: 242.18mQ4 24 EPS: 5.14Q4 24Q1 25 revenue: 3.49bnQ1 25 net income: 393.27mQ1 25 EPS: 8.30Q2 25 revenue: 2.85bnQ2 25 net income: 305.05mQ2 25 EPS: 6.70Q2 25Q3 25 revenue: 2.79bnQ3 25 net income: 260.88mQ3 25 EPS: 5.78Q4 25 revenue: 2.86bnQ4 25 net income: 230.88mQ4 25 EPS: 5.14Q4 25Q1 26 revenue: 3.90bnQ1 26 net income: 356.68mQ1 26 EPS: 7.93Q2 26 revenue: 3.16bnQ2 26 net income: 340.47mQ2 26 EPS: 7.74Q2 26

Revenue Net incomeEPS (GAAP) (5.07–8.30, own scale) Derived Q4

12 quarters to Q2 26. Revenue and net income share one scale, so the gap between them is the margin. The line is GAAP EPS — it spans every quarter shown, where the reported figure only goes back as far as the consensus feed does.

Quarter endingRevenueYoY Net incomeEPS (GAAP) Filed
2026-05-02 3.16bn +11.1% 340.47m 7.74 2026-06-02
2026-01-31 (derived) 3.90bn +11.8% 356.68m 7.93 2026-03-26
2025-11-01 2.86bn +12.9% 230.88m 5.14 2025-12-04
2025-08-02 2.79bn +9.3% 260.88m 5.78 2025-08-28

Earnings response

Typical move around a filing ±7.1%
On an ordinary two days ±1.5% — filings move it 4.7× as much
Direction 6 up, 6 down over 12 filings
Revenue change and price reaction, by quarter
Q3 22 revenue +16.8% year on yearQ3 22 filed 2022-08-25: price -0.1%Q4 22 revenue +17.2% year on yearQ4 22 filed 2022-12-01: price +1.4%Q4 22Q2 23 revenue +12.3% year on yearQ2 23 filed 2023-05-25: price -12.7%Q3 23 revenue +10.1% year on yearQ3 23 filed 2023-08-24: price -7.0%Q3 23Q4 23 revenue +6.4% year on yearQ4 23 filed 2023-11-30: price +12.4%Q2 24 revenue +3.5% year on yearQ2 24 filed 2024-05-30: price +4.4%Q2 24Q3 24 revenue +0.9% year on yearQ3 24 filed 2024-08-29: price -3.8%Q4 24 revenue +1.7% year on yearQ4 24 filed 2024-12-05: price +7.1%Q4 24Q2 25 revenue +4.5% year on yearQ2 25 filed 2025-05-29: price +13.1%Q3 25 revenue +9.3% year on yearQ3 25 filed 2025-08-28: price -7.7%Q3 25Q4 25 revenue +12.9% year on yearQ4 25 filed 2025-12-04: price +10.5%Q2 26 revenue +11.1% year on yearQ2 26 filed 2026-06-02: price -5.9%Q2 26

Revenue up year on year Revenue down Price move around the filing separate scales — a crossing means nothing

Quarter endingFiledRevenue YoY Move around filingNext 20 sessions vs SPY
2026-05-02 2026-06-02 +11.1% -5.9% -1.1%
2025-11-01 2025-12-04 +12.9% +10.5% +6.9%
2025-08-02 2025-08-28 +9.3% -7.7% +9.2%
2025-05-03 2025-05-29 +4.5% +13.1% -5.9%

Share count

Diluted shares over time

Diluted shares Return since the previous filing

Direction Shrinking — shares retired
Diluted shares 44.0M as at 2026-05-02
Change over 1 year -3.4%
Change over 3 years -12.9%
Public float $16.87bn as at 2025-08-01 (10-K)

The Pricewhat the chart is doingTop ↑

Price Levels

StrategyFair Value Anchor
Reference band 487.63 — 534.55
Protective stop 474.21 (Atr, 7.2% risk)
Support 515.37 (3 touches, 3.2% away)
Resistance 543.57 (2.2% away)

Takeaway The shares are nearer the ceiling than the floor: about 2.2% below 543.57, where sellers have turned up before, and 3.2% above 515.37, where buyers have stepped in before. That floor has held 3 times, which is how it was spotted. If someone bought at today's price and sold if it dropped through the level below, they would be about 7.2% out of pocket. That is all this figure means — an illustration of the risk, not a price to sell at.

Levels are computed from price structure. They describe where the engine locates support and extension — they are not targets, and not advice.

Ichimoku Cloud (Adaptive)

Daily cloudPrice INSIDE the cloud | periods 7/21/42 (81% of classic 9/26/52)
LinesTenkan/Kijun BULL | cloud twist BULL
Cloud thickness60% percentile
Chikou spanAbove price from 26 periods ago
Weekly cloudPrice INSIDE the weekly cloud (context only, not scored)

Takeaway The stock is trading inside its cloud — a shaded band drawn from several of its own moving averages, currently 505.17 to 535.08. Inside the band those averages disagree with each other, so the indicator is not saying much either way. Its shorter-term averages point the other way, so this is a mixed reading rather than a clear one.

Trailing returns

21 days +13.4%
63 days +5.3%
126 days -21.7%
252 days +6.7%
Below 252d high24.7%

Trend context

PositionAbove trend
ExtensionExtended
Trend slopeFlat
Direction of travelHolding its deviation

Takeaway The share price is above the level its own longer-run trend suggests is fair, and that fair level is going sideways. The gap between the two has been fairly steady. Being stretched this far above trend measures how much room there is to fall back — it does not say the stock will stop rising.

Volatility

State Expanding
Current band width22.8% of price
Recent tightest14.8% (9 sessions ago, narrower than 39.0% of its history)
Expansion since1.54×
Band 453.59 — 570.02

Takeaway Lately this share price has been swinging around inside a range roughly 23% wide. That is normal for this stock, so there is nothing unusual to read into it either way.

Historical trends

0255075100Share price 452.49–565.152026-07-032026-08-12
Position Health Business Conviction Share price

History begins when the site started recording, not when the company listed, so a short line means a short record and nothing more.

Who's Tradingthe flow behind the priceTop ↑

Insider activity

ActivityInsider selling
Buy filings0
Sell filings1
Shares sold383
Value sold$182.2k
Latest sell2026-06-15
FiledInsiderSharesValue
2026-06-15 Sold MRKONIC GEORGE R JRDirector 383 $182,247

Open-market Form 4 purchases and sales over the last 75 days, read from SEC EDGAR Form 4. Grants, option exercises, gifts and shares withheld for tax are excluded — they are compensation mechanics, not a decision to buy or sell. Reported Form 4 activity. Brown Bear tested insider cluster-buying as a return signal and rejected it as era-unstable; shown as fact, not signal.

Volume confirmation

Volume-price trend Above its signal line
Confirmation Marginal

No absorption or distribution event in the recent window.

Takeaway Slightly more shares change hands on rising days than on falling ones, but the gap is too small to read anything into.

Options Positioning

No binary-event flag

ULTA: no binary-event flag. Near IV 34%, far IV 38% (ratio 0.90), implied move 4.3%.

Implied volatility 34% near (9d) · 38% far (100d)
Term structure 0.90× near/far
Historical volatility 34%
Implied vs historical 1.00×
Implied move ±4.3% by 2026-08-21
Implied move vs ATR 0.52×
Skew Flat (1.07×)
Call wall 535.00 (+0.6% away)
Put wall 270.00 (-49.2% away)
Gamma pin 270.00

Takeaway Insuring against a move in this stock costs less for the next few weeks than for the next few months, which is the normal state of affairs and suggests no particular date is worrying anyone. Options traders are positioned for a move of around 4.3% in either direction by 2026-08-21.

Chain as at 2026-08-12. This is a risk read on whether a specific event is being priced — not a directional view.

Context & Methodthe record, and how it was builtTop ↑

Relative Rotation

ImprovingLeadingLaggingWeakeningvs sectorvs SPYsector vs SPYRS-Ratio →RS-Momentum →

Mixed Rotation Phase

Rotation health 61.2/100; Positive Rotation.

Rotation health 61.2
Rotation strength 74.6
LegQuadrantRS-RatioRS-Mom
Stock vs sector Weakening 109.2 86.6
Stock vs SPY Weakening 111.4 84.5
Sector vs SPY Leading 112.5 121.1

Direction of travel: South-West / deteriorating rotation

Position only. Brown Bear's RRG redesign programme is closed — five constructions, none beat an appropriate null — so this section describes where the name sits, and is not a signal.

News Headlines

  1. Loading headlines\u2026

Headlines are supplied by third-party feeds and are not written, ranked or interpreted by Brown Bear. They feed no score on this page.

Detailed Scoring

Positive signals

  • Piotroski F-score 5/9 (+10.0)
  • Altman Z-score 8.11 (+10.0)
  • Insider conviction score (+3.0)
  • Gross margin quality: 43.2% (+8.5)
  • ROIC quality: 32.4% (+23.5)
  • FCF margin quality: 12.1% (+8.1)
  • Gross margin improving by 4.3 pts (+2.0)
  • High earnings quality (accrual ratio -0.050) (+2.0)
  • Accrual ratio improving (-0.02 -> -0.05) (+5.0)
  • Relative Strength 10.6% vs sector: OUTPERFORMING (+10.0)
  • Track 1: MACD histogram state (2.77) (+8.0)
  • Track 1: relative strength trend improving (+5.0)
  • Track 1: 20-day momentum acceleration 0.15 (+9.0)
  • Track 1: bullish DI spread 34.4 (+8.0)
  • Track 1: ADX 63.0 and rising (+10.0)
  • Track 1: EMA20 reclaim distance 2.8% (+5.8)
  • Track 1: EMA20 slope improving 3.5% (+5.0)
  • Track 1: positive MACD regime (+3.0)
  • Track 1: MACD line/signal repair quality (+8.0)
  • Track 1: MACD slope improving (+5.0)
  • Track 1: VPT strength 0.03 (+0.6)
  • Track 1: price above EMA50 by 5.6% (+3.5)
  • Track 1: EMA50 slope improving 3.5% (+3.0)
  • Track 1: EMA50 support proximity 5.6% (+0.3)
  • Track 1: EMA200 support proximity 1.5% (+6.0)
  • Track 1: Bollinger position 0.67 (+2.6)

Negative signals

  • Weak relative momentum rank (0.42)
  • Track 1: MACD histogram deteriorating (-4.15)
  • Track 1: RSI deterioration/extension 68.8, 5-day change -10.0
  • ROIC improving by -5.0 pts (+-5.0)

Chase risk is not elevated for this name, so extension penalties are omitted from the negative signals above.