Kecia Steelman’s first year in the corner office at Ulta Beauty has turned into a full-blown comeback story for the nation’s largest specialty beauty retailer. Shares have ripped higher, sales are picking up, and the company’s loyalty ranks are swelling, giving executives fresh room to keep pouring money into digital upgrades, new brands and in-store activations as they look ahead to 2026.
Local business coverage has been tracking the surge. Crain's Chicago Business reports the stock has jumped roughly 85% year over year and even tagged an all-time intraday high of $696, while Ulta staged more than 100,000 in-store events during fiscal 2025 in a bid to pull shoppers back into its aisles.
Numbers Behind The Rally
The financials backing that run-up are not subtle. In the third quarter, net sales climbed about 12.9% and comparable sales rose 6.3%, while ecommerce delivered double-digit growth and loyalty membership hit a record 46.3 million, according to Ulta Beauty. On top of that, the company raised its full-year sales outlook to roughly $12.3 billion, per reporting that summarized management’s updated guidance.
How Ulta Beauty Unleashed Took Shape
Inside the company, leaders point to a three-part turnaround program, branded "Ulta Beauty Unleashed," that focuses on brand building and digital acceleration, scaling newer businesses such as wellness, and lining up leadership around those goals. As detailed by Crain's Chicago Business, Steelman tied the strategy to a leadership shake-up that brought in a new CFO, a chief merchandising and digital officer and two new board members intended to speed decision-making.
Stores, Partnerships And The Chicago Connection
Even with all the digital momentum, the stores are still the star of the show. By late 2025 Ulta was operating roughly 1,500 U.S. locations, giving it broad reach for promotions and in-person services, according to industry coverage. At the same time, the company has been trimming some experiments in favor of its core channels. Ulta and Target plan to wrap up their shop-in-shop collaboration in August 2026 so Ulta can lean harder into its own omnichannel strategy, per Target.
That mix of a large store base, an outsized loyalty program and rising digital traffic is powering the recovery and giving Ulta room to launch exclusive brands and marketplace assortments in ways competitors cannot easily copy, industry observers say.
What Investors Are Watching
Wall Street has not been shy about its reaction. After the latest quarterly beat, analysts bumped up their price targets, and the stock’s jump has opened the door for management to keep buying back shares while still investing in marketing and technology. Ulta has also warned of higher near-term SG&A as it funds those priorities, and investors are watching closely to see whether that spending turns into durable margin expansion, according to coverage of the company’s post-quarter guidance.
From here, the key issues for shareholders are whether Ulta can sustain ecommerce momentum, keep growing its 46 million-plus loyalty base and turn those sales gains into operating leverage. Investors are set to get a more formal progress report when Ulta updates the Street again in March, per the company’s investor calendar.
