Down More Than 20% This Year, Is Ulta Beauty Stock a Buy?

With shares of specialty beauty retailer Ulta (NASDAQ: ULTA) getting hammered this year, despite the S&P 500 rising sharply higher, the stock has started to look quite attractive. Shares are trading at less than 15 times earnings as of this writing -- a huge discount compared to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100's price-to-earnings ratios of 24 and 31, respectively.Will a close examination of the retailer's stock reveal that it is as compelling as it appears on the surface? Or are the underlying business problems that caused the stock to drop this year too significant for investors to consider buying shares?The main reason for the stock's recent slide has been the company's slowing sales. After growing comparable sales 15.6% in fiscal 2022, this key sales metric slowed significantly to 5.6% in fiscal 2023. In addition, comparable sales growth came in just 1.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, prompting management to lower its full-year outlook for the sales figure. Management said in its fiscal first-quarter update that it now expects comparable sales to grow 2% to 3% for the full fiscal year -- down from a previous forecast for 4% to 5% growth.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool