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Investing.com — Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) reported Thursday fourth quarter results that beat analysts’ forecasts as improving margins helped bolster results.
Ulta Beauty shares rose 1.5% in after-hours trade following the report.
Ulta Beauty announced earnings per share of $5.36 on revenue of $2.73 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $4.56 on revenue of $2.69 billion.
Comparable sales increased 21.4%, compared with a decrease of 4.8% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, driven by a 10.4% increase in transactions and a 9.9% increase in average ticket.
As a percentage of net sales, gross profit increased to 37.6% from 35.1% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, primarily due to “leverage of fixed costs, favorable channel mix shifts, and improvement in merchandise margins,” the company said.
Looking ahead to the full-year 2022, sales were expected to be in the range of $9.05 billion to $9.15 billion, with comparable sales growth of 3% to 4%. That compared with Wall Street estimates for sales of $9.14 billion. Earnings were expected to be between $18.20 and $18.70.
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