Topic: How To Invest

Pat, what do you think of Ulta Beauty as a buy? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: Ulta Beauty Inc., $381.17, symbol ULTA on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 48.3 million; Market cap: $18.3 billion; www.ulta.com), is the largest beauty retailer in the U.S. and a destination for cosmetics, fragrance, skin care products, hair care products, and salon services. All together, the company provides consumers with a broad assortment of over 25,000 prestige and mass-market beauty products from more than 600 well-established and emerging beauty brands across a variety of categories and price points. The company believes it offers the widest selection of beauty categories, including prestige and mass cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, prestige and mass skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools. The company has 1,385 stores in 50 U.S. states. Those locations are primarily high-end, street-access stores with an average size of more than 10,000 square feet. Each location generally includes a 950-square-feet, full-service salon, through which the company sells beauty services. Apart from its stores, Ulta Beauty also sells extensively through its website, which…