Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 11, 2026

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA)

A forensic read on Ulta Beauty, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

C · Mixed — selective

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

9.0

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

19.5

P / E (ttm)

41.1%

ROE

$23.5B

Market cap

9.7%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Ulta Beauty, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 9.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 1 forensic signal was flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).

What the filings flag

+31.1%

FY2025→FY2026

Accruals ratio (% of NOA). Net operating assets grew +31.1% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The build is led by receivables up +33% against revenue +10%. This is the fifth straight fiscal year of building accruals — an even longer streak than the 3-year mark that already signals a materially stronger tell. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 17% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$12.39B

Revenue Growth YoY+9.7%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+6.7%

Net Margin9.3%

Free Cash Flow$1.07B

Return on Equity41.1%

Debt / Equity0.02x

The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Ulta Beauty, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?

Generate the AI investment read →

No credit card · informational only, not investment advice · see the track record

← Browse all forensic stock analyses

Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.