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e.l.f. Beauty (ELF) Hit a 52 Week High, Can the Run Continue?

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Have you been paying attention to shares of e.l.f. Beauty (ELF - Free Report) ? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 16.5% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $38.52 in the previous session. e.l.f. Beauty has gained 14.7% since the start of the year compared to the -2.3% move for the Zacks Consumer Staples sector and the -31.6% return for the Zacks Cosmetics industry.

What's Driving the Outperformance?

The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on August 3, 2022, e.l.f. Beauty reported EPS of $0.39 versus consensus estimate of $0.23 while it beat the consensus revenue estimate by 12.05%.

For the current fiscal year, e.l.f. Beauty is expected to post earnings of $0.89 per share on $458.18 million in revenues. This represents a 5.95% change in EPS on a 16.84% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $0.97 per share on $496.4 million in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 8.86% and 8.34%, respectively.

Valuation Metrics

e.l.f. Beauty may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself.

On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style.

e.l.f. Beauty has a Value Score of D. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are A and B, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B.

In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 42.8X current fiscal year EPS estimates, which is a premium to the peer industry average of 32.3X. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 34.7X versus its peer group's average of 20.8X. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective.

Zacks Rank

We also need to consider the stock's Zacks Rank, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, e.l.f. Beauty currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) thanks to favorable earnings estimate revisions from covering analysts.

Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if e.l.f. Beauty meets the list of requirements. Thus, it seems as though e.l.f. Beauty shares could have potential in the weeks and months to come.


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