• by Sarah Mahoney , December 5, 2025

Ulta’s third-quarter results beat expectations for both sales and profits, with executives pointing to a new brand-equity campaign as a meaningful contributor. Net sales jumped 12.9% to $2.9 billion, up from $2.5 billion a year ago. Comparable sales rose 6.3%. Net income slipped to $230.9 million from $242 million, pressured by higher costs.

The Bolingbrook, Illinois–based retailer is roughly a year into a transformation plan under new CEO Kecia Steelman, who has emphasized bigger marketing investments, stronger product innovation, and improved store and digital experiences.

Steelman told investors that even as many consumers feel stretched, they continue to respond to “newness and value.” Marketing was a central theme. Ulta is “elevating our marketing efforts to spark excitement and awareness, drive engagement, and attract and retain loyalty members,” she said. The new “Beauty Happens Here” campaign — running across traditional and connected TV as well as social — is meant to reinforce Ulta as “the destination for all ages and all life stages.”

Steelman said the campaign is already delivering “significant” awareness gains among both broad and priority segments, contributing to strong brand-health improvements. High-impact merchandising events, including 21 Days of Beauty and Fall Haul, also performed well.

Fragrance was the quarter’s fastest-growing category, followed by skincare. Prestige beauty continued to outperform.

“Ulta continues to benefit from strong spending by higher-income consumers,” writes Morningstar analyst David Swartz. “Another key factor is its ability to offer new products to its 46 million loyalty members — it added more than 35 brands in the third quarter alone.”

Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh called the quarter “a meaningful upside surprise,” adding that Ulta’s confidence heading into the holiday period strengthens its case for continued outperformance.

“Today's guidance update was much stronger than we envisioned, even with a continued cautious outlook for the balance of the year,” he wrote. “We still see a strong outperformance case, following major gains year to date."