Makeup Tutorial Trend Could Be Good News For Ulta

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. ULTA shareholders are hoping for the best when the company reports Q1 earnings after the market close on Thursday. The latest data from TickerTags indicates that, regardless of the company’s bottom line, shareholders can at least appreciate the company’s social media buzz in recent months.

TickerTags monitors social media sites to identify trends by searching for words or phrases that appear together in social media content, such as tweets.

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Organic social media mentions of Ulta in Q1 were up 57 percent compared to Q1 of 2015. In addition, social mentions of “makeup” + “tutorial” surged 132 percent on the quarter. The trend in online makeup video tutorials stands to benefit Ulta in a big way. These videos often feature brands such as Urban Decay and NYX, which were among Ulta’s best-performing brands in Q4.



Shareholders will soon find out whether or not the brands’ Q4 momentum carried over into 2016. Either way, the makeup tutorial trend is essentially free advertising for Ulta.

So far this year, Ulta’s stock is up 15.5 percent compared to only a 2.3 percent gain for the overall market.

TickerTags founder Chris Camillo won the Founder of the Year award at this week’s 2016 Benzinga Fintech Awards.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.