B. Riley upgraded Ulta Beauty (ULTA) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $430, up from $330. The firm cites the “erosion of key pillars” to its prior thesis for the upgrade, namely skepticism in the Ulta’s positive comp inflection for 2025 and the resulting pressure to operating margin. The company’s updated Q4 guidance calls for ‘”modestly positive” comps, which if realized, would represent two consecutive quarters of positive performance in the metric, which suggests greater achievability of a sustained comp inflection into 2025, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Riley says the beats to both Q3 and Q4 “beg the question of the potential cushion embedded” in the company’s early 2025 commentary provided at its analyst day. The firm sees positive earnings momentum for Ulta.
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Read More on ULTA:
- Ulta Beauty upgraded to Neutral from Sell at B. Riley
- Ulta Beauty price target raised to $425 from $394 at Piper Sandler
- Ulta Beauty price target raised to $475 from $455 at Stifel
- Ulta Beauty price target raised to $457 from $450 at Citi
- Ulta Beauty ups Q4 comp outlook on ‘stronger-than-expected’ holiday
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