Ulta Salon Shares Plunge as Outlook Fall Short of Street’s Estimate (ULTA)
Although Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) reported better than expected fiscal fourth-quarter results thanks to opening of new stores and launching of new products which helped driving up the revenue, shares were hammered in aftermarket hours as the Company provided weak guidance on the current quarter and fiscal 2013.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, the Company reported a net income of $64.5 million or $1.00 per share, up from $46 million or $0.73 per share, in the same quarter of last year.
Net sales during the quarter climbed 30.3% to $756 million from $583 million, in the same period of last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, were expecting earnings of 98 cents a share on sales of $752.27 million.
While Gross margin widened 10 basis points from last year to 34.2 %, operating margin rose to 13.7 % from 12.6 %, in the same quarter of last year.
Comparable-store-sales, rose 8% compared to growth of 11.5%, in the year-earlier quarter. The Company opened 13 new stores, ending the quarter with 550 stores in all. The Company said it’s planning to open 125 stores this year.
For the first quarter, the Bolingbrook, Illinois-based Company expects earnings to be in the range of 60 cents to 63 cents a share on sales range of $568 million to $577 million, falling short of analysts’ consensus forecast for earnings of 72 cents a share on sales of $579.66 million.
Comparable-store sales are expected to grow by 4% to 6% in the quarter as well for the fiscal 2013.
Ulta Salon expects earnings per share growth to come at the lower end of its long term target of 25 to 30 percent, in the current fiscal year.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
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