Double-Digit Comp Gain Propels Ulta Q2

Ulta Beauty has announced financial results for the second quarter ended August 1, with net income increasing to $74.2 million compared to $60.8 million in the fiscal 2014 period. Income per diluted share gained to $1.15 compared to 94 cents in the second quarter of fiscal 2014.

A Thompson Reuters analyst average estimate was for earnings per diluted share of $1.12.

Comparable sales, including e-commerce revenues, increased 10.1%, the company noted, as e-commerce sales grew 43.4% to $36.1 million.

Ulta posted a net sales advance of 19.4% to $877 million, and operating income increased 20.9% to $118.5 million.

“The Ulta Beauty team achieved outstanding results in the second quarter, with top-line momentum delivering better than expected earnings growth,” said Mary Dillon, Ulta CEO. “Strong traffic growth drove healthy comparable sales increases across stores, salon and e-commerce, while average ticket growth also contributed. An exciting pipeline of new products, combined with increasing effectiveness of our marketing strategies, drove market share gains across all categories. In light of the excellent performance of the business in the first half of the year, we are raising our outlook for the full year and now expect to achieve earnings per share growth in the high teens.”

In the second quarter, Ulta opened 20 locations to bring its store count to 817.