By Kelly Cloonan

With beauty retailers set to report quarterly earnings later this week investors will be watching for any signs of how consumers are prioritizing--or foregoing--spending as tariffs threaten to hike prices.

Analysts expect companies like e.l.f. Beauty, Bath & Body Works and Ulta Beauty to grow sales in their latest quarters despite weak consumer sentiment. Analysts expect some headwinds to dissolve with tariff mitigation likely to be tackled in a more orderly fashion after the Trump administration eased tariffs on China for the near term, Raymond James analysts said in a note.

E.l.f. Beauty

E.l.f. reports fiscal fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday and expects to post full-year, double-digit sales growth compared with the prior year. That growth will come at a slower pace than e.l.f initially forecast amid softer-than-expected trends in January, the company said. Analysts will be looking to see if those trends have continued into the current quarter, and will be paying attention to the company's tariff mitigation plans, which include a $1 price increase effective in August, the company said in a post to Instagram. E.l.f.'s guidance for the current fiscal year will likely meet Wall Street's expectations for sales of $1.45 billion, due to a reduction in tariffs on China, Oppenheimer analysts said in a note this month. Analysts polled by FactSet expect the company's fourth-quarter sales to grow to $326.7 million, up from $321.1 million a year ago.

Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty reports earnings on Thursday, and is expected to post first-quarter sales of $2.79 billion, up from $2.73 billion a year earlier. The company expects sales to increase this year and plans to make investments to position itself to grow and optimize its operations under its Chief Executive Officer Kecia Steelman, who took the helm in January. The company said in March it expects full-year sales of $11.5 billion to $11.6 billion, with same store sales flat to up 1%. Deutsche Bank analysts expect the company's first-quarter results to show that execution is improving, with strong performance during promotions.

Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works pre-announced first-quarter results earlier this month when it named Daniel Heaf its new chief executive officer. The company's initial estimate is for earnings per share of 49 cents, up from 38 cents a year earlier, and above analyst expectations for 42 cents, according to FactSet. Revenue is expected to have increased 3% to $1.42 billion in the quarter, at the high end of its previous guidance range, and in line with analyst expectations. For the full year, the company backed its guidance for sales to rise 1% to 3% and earnings of $3.25 to $3.60 per share, reflecting the affect of an initial 10% tariff on goods imported from China, the company said. Investors will be paying close attention to any changes in strategy proposed by CEO Heaf, who previously worked as the chief strategy and transformation officer at Nike.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 27, 2025 13:29 ET (17:29 GMT)

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