Stock Market Sell-Off: Is Estée Lauder a Buy?
In light of the broad market's weakness, it's been a surprisingly OK year for beauty stocks. Shares of e.l.f. Beauty are up 19% since the end of 2021 despite the bearish start to 2022, and owners of retailer Ulta Beauty are essentially breaking even year to date. That's still a victory given that the S&P 500 is down more than 20% for the same period. Coty remains in the red for the year but has still rallied more than 30% from June's low.
There's one notable exception to the industry's sweeping strength, however. Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) are down 36% year to date, and they're knocking on the door of new 52-week lows. Guidance for the fiscal year beginning in July was anything but thrilling, rekindling the stock selling from earlier in the year.
It's arguable, however, that the cosmetics company was simply ensuring relative success by underpromising so it could overdeliver. So this year's sizable pullback could be a buying opportunity. Let's take a closer look.
Source Fool.com
