Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA) Stock Price & Analysis
Market: NASDAQ • Sector: Consumer Cyclical • Industry: Specialty Retail
Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA) Profile & Business Summary
Ulta Beauty, Inc. operates as a retailer of beauty products in the United States. The company's stores offer cosmetics, fragrances, skincare and haircare products, bath and body products, and salon styling tools; professional hair products; salon services, including hair, skin, makeup, and brow services; and nail services. It also provides its private label products, such as the Ulta Beauty Collection branded cosmetics, skincare, and bath products, as well as Ulta Beauty branded products; and the Ulta Beauty branded gifts. As of March 10, 2022, the company operated 1,308 retail stores across 50 states. It also distributes its products through its website ulta.com; and mobile applications. The company was formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. and changed its name to Ulta Beauty, Inc. in January 2017. Ulta Beauty, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Key Information
| Ticker | ULTA |
|---|---|
| Exchange | NASDAQ |
| Official Site | https://www.ulta.com |
Market Trend Overview for ULTA
One model, two time views: what the market looks like right now, and where the larger trend is heading over time.
SRE (WhaleQuant Structural Regime Engine) SRE evaluates how price structure evolves across daily and weekly timeframes to define the prevailing market regime. Beyond identifying trends, consolidations, and exhaustion phases, it distinguishes between raw structural strength and deployable participation quality. The model dynamically adjusts for structural context and extension risk, assessing whether conditions are supportive, stretched, fragile, or structurally impaired. Its purpose is not to forecast precise price levels, but to determine whether risk deployment is aligned with underlying market structure.
Longer-Term Market Trend (Mid to Long Term)
Shows the bigger market trend, how strong it is, and where risks may start to build over the next few weeks or months. — Updated as of 2026-08-28 (ET)
As of 2026-08-28, ULTA is moving sideways without a clear direction. Over the longer term, the trend remains bearish.
ULTA last closed at 517.50. The price is about 0.9 ATR below its recent average price (532.34), and the market is currently in a sideways market without a clear direction. Price at 517.50 is moving between minor support near 517.18 and minor resistance near 527.00. Direction remains unclear. View Support & Resistance from Options
The market is moving sideways, with no clear direction. Both upside and downside risks remain in play.
Trend score: 35 out of 100. Overall alignment is unclear. The market is currently in a sideways market without a clear direction. The longer-term trend is still negative, but short-term signals are not yet confirming it.
A key downside risk boundary is near 478.56. If price falls below this area, the current structure would likely weaken further.
On 2026-08-17, trend conditions deteriorated, suggesting that moves in the prior direction became less dependable.
[2026-08-04] Price moved quickly and looked strong, but participation was limited.
Recent bars show mixed price behavior without a clear shift in structural quality or efficiency.
There was no clear sign of meaningful positions being carried into the overnight session.
The model stays neutral because the setup is not clear enough to justify a directional deployment.
The model does not deploy this setup because the signal stack remains conflicted. Predictability is 48%, agreement is 53%, and reversal risk is 13%.
NOTE: This next-day up/down probability forecast module is still being tested for accuracy. Please do not rely on it for investment decisions. The model does not account for black swan events or company-specific fundamental news, and its estimates are based solely on technical conditions, capital flow, and market sentiment. View forecast history
This estimate uses 1-minute price, volume, and VWAP data from the last 27 trading days, with turnover-based decay. The sample period is 2026-07-23 to 2026-08-28. The current price is 517.50, 1.01% below the estimated average cost of 522.76. An estimated 37.8% of recent positioning is below the current price, while 61.0% is above it. The peak-density price is 529.00. The largest concentrated cost region is 512.30 to 522.50 and contains 24.7% of the estimated distribution. The current price is within the 512.30 to 522.50 cost region. The nearest region below the current price is 507.30 to 511.10. The nearest region above the current price is 527.70 to 536.30.
Short Interest & Covering Risk for ULTA
This analysis looks at overall short interest positioning, focusing on the broader setup rather than short-term noise.
Shows how likely a short squeeze may be under current market conditions.
Short Exposure Percentile
Short interest is relatively low, indicating limited pressure from short positions. (Historical percentile: 11%)
Structure Analysis
ULTA Short positioning looks normal. Current days to cover is 4.1 trading days, meaning short positions would unwind somewhat slower than average. Short covering is likely to have a normal impact on price moves. No meaningful structural fragility is currently detected (Fragility Score 18/100, DTC percentile 79%) and liquidity contracting meaningfully (volume -21%).
Risk Summary
No clear bull trap characteristics detected. Recent price behavior remains broadly consistent with current positioning.This reading helps confirm that current price action remains structurally healthy and does not indicate elevated trap risk.
Why Price Reactions May Be Stronger?
Days-to-Cover is elevated versus its own history, but absolute short interest remains moderate. Average trading volume is weakening, indicating contracting liquidity. Adaptive thresholds applied to liquidity weakness, near-high detection, and compression sensitivity. As a result, similar news or market events could lead to price moves about 1× larger than usual.
Note:
Short interest data is reported every two weeks by
FINRA.
The most recent snapshot is
2026-07-31 (ET).
Because this data updates slowly, it is not intended to predict short-term price moves. Instead, it helps describe longer-term market structure and where pressure may be building if prices begin to move.