Ulta Beauty Is Fighting Hard, but Industry Headwinds Remain

On Dec. 5, Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) reported third-quarter earnings, sending the stock up double digits the following day. Ulta was actually down in 2019 in an otherwise strong year for the overall market, which wasn't what investors in this leading specialty retailer were bargaining for in 2019.

The problem for Ulta is that the prestige cosmetics industry has slowed down mightily this year, even declining after years of torrid growth. Cosmetics account for roughly half of all Ulta sales, and they are also some of the highest-margin products for the retailer, so the slowdown has hurt its growth trajectory in a big way.

As the recent report shows, Ulta's challenges remain. But the all-star retailer is doing quite an admirable job of battling these industry headwinds. And its outperformance, while nothing to write home about, sent the stock higher.

Source Fool.com