The love affair in Ulta Beauty (ULTA) ended last week. Shares peaked at $700, broke down in the $650 range, and closed at $535.72 last Friday.
Investors dumped ULTA stock after the company posted fourth-quarter results that missed expectations. It also issued a weak forecast for this fiscal year.
In Q4, Ulta earned $8.01 a share, compared to $8.46 a share last year. Despite the Beauty Unleashed strategy that increased sales per store, the firm does not expect strong same-store sales. It will rise by 2.5% to 3.5% Y/Y.
Fearful of a widespread bear market driven by the war in Iran, tech investors bought chip stocks. Micron Technology (MU) gained 17.78% last week, reclaiming the $420 level by closing at $426.13 on March 13. The firm partnered with Applied Materials (AMAT) to develop and build DRAM (memory), high-bandwidth memory, and NAND products. AI-related systems need faster and bigger storage. Only a trend of rejecting “AI slop” might slow that storage demand.
Adobe (ADBE) sank by 7.58% last Friday. The firm settled allegations made by the Justice Department. It will pay $150 million for concealing important information regarding its subscription plans. Customers had to pay heavy termination fees during their cancellation process.
ADBE stock looks cheap at an 11.6x P/E. However, the stock fairly values its weak growth ahead. AI image and video services offer cheaper alternatives to Adobe.
