Street View: Ulta beats quarterly results expectations but future is uncertain

Ulta Beauty ULTA.O on Thursday beat Q4 results expectations on robust sales during holiday season, sending shares up 7% in extended trading.

Shares rose 6.5% to $334.90 premarket on Friday

Thirteen of 31 brokerages rate stock "buy" or higher, 17 "hold", one "sell" or lower; median PT is $445 - LSEG data

Q4 results positive but uncertainties persist

Telsey Advisory ("outperform"; PT: $460) says earnings beat was driven by sales, gross margin and expenses coming in better than expected and co steadied ship in back half of 2024

J.P. Morgan ("overweight"; PT: $475) says co is setting up as port in retail storm despite uncertainty and that cautious forecast gives co confidence they can deliver

Piper Sandler ("neutral"; PT: $364) says it is cautiously optimistic; adds co management is moving quickly to re-align teams and priorities to recapture market share and expand margins

Wells Fargo ("underweight"; PT: $310) says Q4 was better but there is also risk co needs to demonstrate stability before brokerage changes its view