Ulta Beauty Q2 FY2026: sales up 8.9%, EPS up 13.3%, outlook raised
Ulta Beauty's fiscal 2026 second quarter was steady rather than spectacular: sales rose 8.9% to $3.04 billion and diluted EPS climbed 13.3% to $6.55, while gross margin slipped 0.1 point to 39.1%. Management raised its full-year outlook on sales, comparable sales, operating income and EPS. Read the quarter as cost discipline and buybacks doing the heavy lifting, with the Space NK acquisition a mild drag on gross margin.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowDiluted EPS rose 13.3% to $6.55 from $5.78, comfortably faster than the 8.9% sales gain. The engine was operating leverage: operating income grew 10.1% to $379.6 million, or 12.5% of sales versus 12.4% a year ago. But net income of $282.0 million rose only 8.1% from $260.9 million, so roughly 4.5 points of the per-share gain came from a smaller share count.
Revenue of $3.04 billion rose 8.9% from $2.79 billion a year earlier, helped by a 3.8% comparable-sales gain plus the Space NK acquisition and new stores. Cosmetics is still the biggest slice at 37% of sales but lost a point from 38%, while fragrance gained a point to 13%. Growth is coming from a broader mix, not just the core category.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-09-17
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