Will Ulta's Q1 Report Continue Its Street-Beating Streak?

Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA has been a beneficiary of the "selfie generation" where teens and millennials need to look their best for the constant stream of selfies posted to social media platforms.

Ulta's nearly 800 percent gain over the past 10 years has rewarded long-term shareholders, but now some investors are wondering if the strong run is coming to an end. Case in point, the beauty retailer chain reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results in early March that beat consensus estimates but its outlook for the first quarter was soft.

Investors immediately punished Ulta's stock lower but by the end of the trading session the stock managed to erase all of the losses and even trade at new all-time highs.

Loop Capital's Anthony Chukumba told Benzinga at the time that Ulta has "a long track record of beating consensus estimates by a pretty wide margin." The analyst added that he isn't concerned with the first quarter guidance and management is likely "being conservative and trying to underpromise and overdeliver."

Q1 Report On Deck

Ulta is scheduled to report its first quarter results after Thursday's market close.

Baird's Mark Altschwager has high expectations for the company heading into the print. The analyst said in a report he's expecting Ulta to report a 24 percent growth in earnings per share to $1.80 and indicate an 11 percent growth in comps. Both of these metrics are at the high end of management's guidance which was issued in March.

Similar to Chukumba, Altschwager stated that Ulta has a track record of issuing conservative guidance and this quarter's figures already factors in the potential for sequential comp deceleration.

Altschwager maintained an Outperform rating on Ulta's stock with a price target boosted from $315 to $325.

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