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As the Q4 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter’s best and worst performers in the personal care industry, including e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) and its peers.
While personal care products products may seem more discretionary than food, consumers tend to maintain or even boost their spending on the category during tough times. This phenomenon is known as "the lipstick effect" by economists, which states that consumers still want some semblance of affordable luxuries like beauty and wellness when the economy is sputtering. Consumer tastes are constantly changing, and personal care companies are currently responding to the public’s increased desire for ethically produced goods by featuring natural ingredients in their products.
The 13 personal care stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 3.7% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 7% below.
While some personal care stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 4.6% since the latest earnings results.
e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF)
Short for "eyes, lips, face", e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) is a developer of high-quality beauty products at accessible price points.
e.l.f. Beauty reported revenues of $355.3 million, up 31.1% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 7.8%. Despite the top-line beat, it was still a slower quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and full-year revenue guidance missing analysts’ expectations.
e.l.f. Beauty scored the fastest revenue growth of the whole group. Still, the market seems discontent with the results. The stock is down 0.7% since reporting and currently trades at $64.41.
Is now the time to buy e.l.f. Beauty? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.
Best Q4: Olaplex (NASDAQ:OLPX)
Rising to fame on TikTok because of its “bond building" hair products, Olaplex (NASDAQ:OLPX) offers products and treatments that repair the damage caused by traditional heat and chemical-based styling goods.
Olaplex reported revenues of $100.7 million, down 9.8% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 14.4%. The business had an incredible quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.
Olaplex delivered the biggest analyst estimates beat and highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. However, the results were likely priced into the stock as it’s traded sideways since reporting. Shares currently sit at $1.36.