LONDON, September 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Investor-Edge.com has issued free post-earnings coverage on Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA). The company reported financial results on September 11, 2014 for Q2 FY14 ended August 02, 2014. During Q2 FY14, Ulta Salon's net sales and net income grew 22.2% and 35.4%, respectively on a Y-o-Y basis. Further, the company's diluted EPS during Q2 FY14 increased $0.24 from the prior year quarter. Our free coverage report can be accessed at:

www.investor-edge.com/register [http://www.investor-edge.com/register ]

Earnings Overview

During Q2 FY14, Ulta Salon's net sales increased to $734.24 million from $601.00 million in the preceding year quarter. Analysts from Bloomberg anticipated net sales of $712.79 million for the reported quarter. The company's comparable store sales (including e-commerce sales) grew 9.6% compared to an increase of 8.4% in Q2 FY13, driven by 5.8% growth in transactions and 3.8% growth in average ticket. Meanwhile, the company's gross profit as a percentage of net sales during the reported quarter stood at 35.3%, unchanged from the previous year quarter. The free research on ULTA can be downloaded as in PDF format at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/ULTAFreeReport [http://www.investor-edge.com/ULTAFreeReport ]

Ulta Salon's selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales decreased to 21.5% from 22.4% in Q2 FY13. Ulta Salon's preopening expenses during the reported quarter also narrowed to $3.60 million, from $4.81 million in Q2 FY13. As a result, the company's Q2 FY14 operating income surged 34.5% to $97.98 million, or 13.3% of net sales, from $72.87 million, or 12.1% of net sales, in the preceding year quarter. Further, the company's net income during Q2 FY14 broadened to $60.79 million, or $0.94 per diluted share, from $44.91 million, or $0.70 per diluted share in Q2 FY13. The company's net income outperformed Bloomberg analysts' forecasts of $53.22 million, or $0.82 per diluted share during Q2 FY14.

Mary Dillon, CEO of Ulta Salon, expressed delight in announcing the company's excellent second quarter results and informed that the better than expected Q2 FY14 top line performance was driven by the significant improvement in traffic, successful new product and brand launches, and rapid e-commerce growth, which in turn aided healthy operating margin expansion. She announced that the company has raised its outlook for the year and now expects to achieve sales and earnings per share growth in the 20% range, reflecting the company's confidence in continued strong market share gains. Sign up and read the free analyst's notes on ULTA at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/ULTA-15092014 [http://www.investor-edge.com/ULTA-15092014 ]

During Q2 FY14, the company opened 19 new stores and ended the quarter with a total of 715 stores. For Q3 FY14, Ulta Salon anticipates net sales to be in the range of $724 million to $736 million, and comparable store sales are expected to grow in the range of 6% to 8%. The company's Q3 FY14 diluted EPS is projected to be in the range of $0.79 to $0.84. For FY14, the company expects comparable store sales (including e-commerce business) growth of approximately 7% to 8%. Ulta Salon plans to open 100 new stores and to remodel 12 locations in FY14. Further, the company plans to incur capital expenditures of approximately $265 million and expects to generate free cash flow in excess of $100 million during the fiscal.

Stock Performance

On Friday, September 12, 2014, a day after the earnings release, shares in Ulta Salon surged 17.86%, ending the session at $114.89. A total of 9.53 million shares were traded, which was significantly above its three months average volume of 0.89 million shares. Over the previous three trading sessions and in the last one month, the company's shares have gained 18.46% and 22.58%, respectively. Moreover, since the start of this year, the stock has advanced 19.03%. Shares in Ulta Salon closed above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $95.12 and $92.87, respectively. Further, the company's stock traded at a PE ratio 32.64 and has a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 82.99. Visit Investor-Edge and access the latest research on ULTA at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/ULTAEarningsCoverage [http://www.investor-edge.com/ULTAEarningsCoverage ]

Sneak Peek to Corporate Insider Trading

In the last one month Ulta Salonhas not reported any share transactions by insiders to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Complimentary in-depth research on ULTA is available at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/ULTAInsiderTrading [http://www.investor-edge.com/ULTAInsiderTrading ]

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