Reuters
Jan 7, 2010
Ulta Salon sees fourth quarter above Wall Street, shares rise
Reuters
Jan 7, 2010
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc (ULTA.O) forecast fourth-quarter profit above estimates, helped by improved holiday sales, sending its shares up 9 percent to a new year-high.
Holiday same-store sales at the beauty retailer rose 7.9 percent.
The company said it saw a 9 percent rise in customer traffic leading to a better-than-expected performance for the holiday season.
Ulta Salon raised its fourth-quarter profit view to between 28 cents and 30 cents, from its previous outlook of 22 cents to 26 cents.
The company, which sees sales of $388 million to $392 million for the quarter, expects same-store sales to increase in a range of 4 percent to 5 percent.
Analysts on average were looking for a profit of 26 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $374.8 million, for the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Ulta Salon shares were up 8 percent at $20.72 in morning trade Thursday 7 January on Nasdaq. They touched $20.87 earlier in the session. (Reporting by Vidya Lakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
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