UPDATE 1-Ulta Q1 profit slightly beats Street
(Recasts; adds details)
June 4 (Reuters) - Beauty products retailer Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc (ULTA.O) posted a first-quarter profit that beat market estimates by a penny on higher sales and better margins but said additional pre-opening costs for new stores would impact earnings in the second quarter.
For the latest first quarter, the company posted net income of $4.3 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with $5.3 million, or 10 cents a share, from a year earlier.
Excluding severance charges, earnings were 8 cents a share.
Net sales rose 23.3 percent to $239.3 million, while sales at stores open for at least a year rose 3.9 percent from a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting earnings of 7 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $238.1 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
For the second quarter, Ulta sees earnings of 4 cents to 5 cents a share, including pre-opening costs of 2 cents a share.
Net sales are expected to be $248 million to $252 million and same-store sales growth in the range of 3 percent to 5 percent.
Analysts were expecting second quarter earnings of 5 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $253.5 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
Shares of the company were trading up at $13.63 after the closing bell. They ended the regular session at $13.33 Wednesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Sriram Iyer in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr) ((sriram.iyer@thomsonreuters.com ; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: sriram.iyer.reuters.com@reuters.net))
