/
Ulta Beauty, Inc. ( we, us, our, Ulta Beauty, or the Company ) is an international specialty beauty retailer and a premier beauty destination for cosmetics, fragrance, skin care products, wellness products, hair care products, and salon services. The Company was founded in Illinois in 1990 as a beauty retailer at a time when prestige, mass, and salon products were sold through distinct channels…
$479.57
+$0.71 (+0.15%)
EOD Jul 17, 2026
12.37% operating margin is respectable but not wide. ROIC at 24.51%. Suggests the business covers its cost of capital, but doesn't point to a wide moat.
Revenue grew 9.7%, steady but not accelerating.
ROIC dropped from 27.58% to 24.51%, capital efficiency is deteriorating.
18.0x earnings, 18.6x FCF. Valuation is in a reasonable range. The main question is whether the business can re-accelerate or if current trajectory is already priced in.
Based on TTM earnings · Diluted shares
Profitability & Returns
Revenue (TTM)
$12.71B
▲ +9.7% YoY
Net Income (TTM)
$1.19B
▼ -4.0% YoY
Op. Margin
12.43%
▼ -1.5pp YoY
ROIC
23.93%
▼ -3.1pp YoY
Cash Flow & Balance Sheet
FCF (TTM)
$1.13B
▲ +10.8% YoY
Op. Cash Flow (TTM)
$1.54B
▲ +12.3% YoY
Net Debt
$2.08B
Cash & Equiv.
$221M
5Y CAGR: +15.0%
5Y CAGR: +10.2%
Continue Research
At a P/E of 18.0 and a price-to-free-cash-flow of 18.6, Ulta Beauty (ULTA) trades around a two-stage DCF intrinsic value of about $487.20 per share, so at $479.57 the stock looks around fair value (1.6% below estimated intrinsic value). A high multiple is not the same as overvalued: fast-growing, high-quality businesses can deserve a premium. See the general approach in how to tell if a stock is overvalued.
On quality, Ulta Beauty scores 57/100 on Intrinsiqq's quality scorecard (a mixed business on these measures), weighing growth, margins, returns on capital, share count, and balance-sheet strength. All figures are computed from SEC filings; read the full methodology. This is analysis, not investment advice.
Intrinsiqq's two-stage DCF estimates an intrinsic value of about $487.20 per share for ULTA, projecting its recent free cash flow forward with a growth rate that fades toward a long-run rate and discounting it back to today. Applying a 25% margin of safety gives a more conservative fair-value entry around $365.40. At today's $479.57, that puts the stock about 1.6% below estimated intrinsic value. The result is sensitive to the growth and discount-rate inputs, so it is best to run conservative, base and optimistic cases. You can adjust all of them yourself with the sliders on the DCF tab.
Ulta Beauty scores 57 out of 100 on Intrinsiqq's quality score, a weighted blend of 8 metrics each scored 0 to 100, which makes it a mixed business on these measures. Recent fundamentals include a 12.4% operating margin and a 23.9% return on invested capital. The score weighs revenue and free-cash-flow growth, operating margins, return on invested capital, share-count change, and balance-sheet strength, all computed from SEC filings, not opinion. Because valuation only means something relative to quality, the full metric-by-metric breakdown is on the quality scorecard.
That depends on valuation and quality together, not either alone. ULTA currently trades around its estimated intrinsic value and scores 57/100 on quality (mixed). A cheap price is only a bargain if the business is durable, and a premium can be justified by genuine quality, so the two questions, "is it cheap?" and "is it good?", only make sense side by side. Read the valuation against the quality scorecard, run the DCF on your own assumptions, and decide for yourself. This is analysis from SEC filings, not investment advice.