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The Best Options Trading Strategy for Ulta (ULTA) Earnings

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On Thursday, August 25th, Ulta (ULTA - Free Report) will release its Q2 2016 earnings results. The company is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and shares are up about 46.8% year-to-date.

David Bartosiak gave us his thoughts Ulta’s past earnings, looked at what is currently going on with the company, and he gave us his thoughts on their upcoming earnings announcement.

Furthermore, Dave looked into some potential options trades for investors looking to make a play on Ulta ahead of earnings.

Ulta in Focus

Based in Bolingbrook, IL, Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer in the United States. Its stores provide cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, and salon styling tools. 

Ulta is coming off of an earnings beat of 12.4% in its Q1 2016 earnings report, posting an EPS that was $0.16 higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Ulta has an average EPS surprise of 7.86% for the last four quarters. In Q2 2015, Ulta beat estimates by 3.6%. Ulta then went on to beat estimates in Q3 and Q4 by 5.7% and 9.7% respectively.

ULTA SALON COSM Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

ULTA SALON COSM Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | ULTA SALON COSM Quote

Heading into this earnings report, our Most Accurate Estimate for Ulta is $1.38, one cent lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Due to a spree of successive earnings beats, shares of Ulta are currently trading near a 52-week high. In Q1 2016, the company reported a 23.7% increase on total sales, 15.2% increase in comparable store sales, and a 38.8% increase in e-commerce sales.

Although it may seem that the momentum is running out, the company is poised for further growth this fiscal year. In its previous earnings report, Ulta highlighted plans to grow e-commerce sales in the 40% range, remodel 12 locations, and increase total sales in the high teens range.  

Brick-and-mortar retailers have largely performed strongly in the Q2 earnings season. Still, competition with e-commerce giant Amazon has left a mark, evident in news such as storied brand Macy’s announcing closure of another 100 locations. 

Even so, Ulta does not face much competition in the beauty retail space, and many highlight its advantage of in-store personalized customer service over those in the e-commerce space. The trend in increased consumer interest in beauty products has made a notable impact. Should it continue to grow, Ulta should be in position to benefit moving forward.

Regardless, macroeconomic headwinds including a strengthened U.S. dollar along with the aforementioned competition with Amazon and other online services are still reasonable sources for concern.

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Dave Bartosiak is the editor of the Momentum Trader and Home Run Investor service. He has over a decade of experience in the financial services industry. He has traded forex, futures, stocks, and options. Mr. Bartosiak is a frequent guest on popular business news TV channels such as Bloomberg TV. He’s also the host of a light-hearted, Millennial-minded series of videos called “Trending Stocks.”

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