It’s been something of an ugly fiscal quarter among retailers, but Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) is not fazed in the least.
The beauty retailer continues to outshine struggling peers by doing a few key things right — drawing millennials to its stores, growing an impressive e-commerce business, playing up brand partnerships and rolling out fun and innovative product lines.
The retailer's same-store sales — a metric closely watched by Wall Street — rose 14.3% for the latest period, a healthy double-digit jump at a time when many businesses are barely eking out 1% to 2% growth.
Ulta attributed the gains to 8.7% transaction growth at its established stores and a 5.6% uptick in the average shopper's ticket.
Nor is Ulta just focused on its physical stores, either.
The beauty supplier's digital sales grew 71% in the first quarter, to $104.3 million from $61 million, contributing 340 basis points to the overall 14.3% increase in comparable sales.
The company says it now expects its full-year comparable sales growth to fall within a range of 9% to 11% with its fiscal 2017 e-commerce revenue growth to be in the 50% range.
Thursday – the day of its big earnings announcement -- Ulta reiterated its plans to open 700 combined "prestige brand boutiques" for popular makeup nameplates like Lancôme, Clinique, Benefit and MAC before the year is over, on top of the 500 beauty boutiques Ulta launched in 2016.
On the stock front, Ulta paused for lunch hour Friday up $10.26, or 3.5%, to $303.30
