Ulta Beauty (ULTA) Sales Jumped 8.9%, but Space NK Pressured Gross Margin. Is the Deal Paying Off?

Ulta Beauty (ULTA) Sales Jumped 8.9%, but Space NK Pressured Gross Margin. Is the Deal Paying Off?

Jeff Lewis

Sat, August 29, 2026 at 6:26 AM GMT+3 4 min read

• ULTA -4.18%

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) reported solid growth, but the Space NK acquisition is creating a more complicated margin story. Fiscal second-quarter 2026 net sales increased 8.9% to $3.04 billion, supported by comparable sales growth, new stores, and Space NK. Diluted earnings per share increased 13.3% to $6.55.

Space NK is adding scale. The British luxury beauty retailer gives Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) an established presence in the United Kingdom and Ireland without building a new network from scratch. However, the acquisition has not yet demonstrated clear margin accretion.

Gross profit increased 8.7% to $1.19 billion, slightly slower than sales. Gross margin declined to 39.1% from 39.2%, primarily because of the Space NK business mix. That is a small consolidated decline, but it shows that the acquired revenue currently carries different economics from the existing business of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA).

Bull Case

The strongest argument for the acquisition is that the gross-margin pressure did not prevent overall operating leverage. Comparable sales increased 3.8%, while selling, general and administrative expense as a percentage of sales declined to 26.4% from 26.6%. SG&A expense in dollars increased 8.2% to $802.8 million. Operating income rose 10.1% to $379.6 million, and operating margin improved to 12.5% from 12.4%.

Those figures indicate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) absorbed Space NK's lower gross-margin mix while still producing slightly faster operating-income growth than sales growth. The result does not isolate Space NK's profitability, but it shows that the acquisition has not prevented consolidated operating-margin improvement.

Management also raised its principal full-year sales and earnings targets. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) now expects sales growth of 6.7% to 7.2%, compared with 6% to 7% previously. Comparable-sales guidance increased to 3.2% to 3.7%, while projected operating-income growth rose to 8.3% to 9.3%. Diluted earnings guidance increased to $28.70 to $29.00. Capital-expenditure guidance remained unchanged.

Bear Case

The main concern is that comparable-sales growth slowed from 6.7% a year earlier to 3.8%. Management said sales excluding Space NK still grew at a strong mid-single-digit rate. Space NK and new stores nevertheless widened the difference between comparable-sales growth and the reported 8.9% increase.

The comparison also favors the latest quarter because Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) acquired Space NK on July 10, 2025. The prior-year quarter included only about three weeks of Space NK, compared with a full quarter this year. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) did not separately disclose Space NK's operating margin, making it impossible to determine whether the acquired business is independently earnings-accretive.

Capital allocation adds another risk. Short-term debt reached $339.6 million, compared with $289.1 million in the year-earlier quarter, while cash declined to $158.5 million from $242.7 million. Debt was $62.3 million, and cash was $424.2 million at fiscal year-end, although seasonal working-capital movements make that comparison less direct. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) repurchased $791.1 million of shares during the first half and increased its fiscal 2026 repurchase plan to $1.8 billion from $1.5 billion. Using debt while accelerating repurchases reduces flexibility if the acquisition takes longer to mature.

Hedge Fund Sentiment

The filings available so far reflect positions held before Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) reported its fiscal second-quarter 2026 results. Insider Monkey's database showed 51 hedge funds holding Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) at the end of 2Q2026, down from 56 funds three months earlier.

Conclusion

Space NK is increasing the scale and geographic reach of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA), but clear margin accretion has not emerged. Consolidated operating margin improved despite the acquisition's gross-margin pressure, which is encouraging. Still, without standalone profitability for Space NK, the Space NK acquisition remains strategically additive but not yet financially proven.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.