Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 29, 2024 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Kiley Rawlins - VP, IR
Dave Kimbell - CEO
Paula Oyibo - CFO
Kecia Steelman - President & COO

Conference Call Participants

Steven Forbes - Guggenheim Securities
Amy Teske - Baird
Michael Lasser - UBS
Rupesh Parikh - Oppenheimer
Kelly Crago - Citi
Korinne Wolfmeyer - Piper Sandler
Juliana Duque - Wells Fargo
Michael Baker - D.A. Davidson
Ashley Helgans - Jefferies
Olivia Tong - Raymond James
Susan Anderson - Canaccord Genuity

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Ulta's Beauty's Conference Call to discuss results for the Ulta Beauty Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Results. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce you to Ms. Kiley Rawlins, Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Rawlins, please proceed.

Kiley Rawlins

Thanks, Alicia. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for a discussion of Ulta Beauty's results for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. Hosting our call today are Dave Kimbell, Chief Executive Officer; and Paul Oyibo, Chief Financial Officer; Kecia Steelman, President and Chief Operating Officer will join us for the Q&A session. .

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you of the company's safe harbor language. The statements contained in this conference call, which are not historical facts, may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Actual future results may differ materially from those projected in such statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties, all of which are described in the company's filings with the SEC. We caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today, August 29, 2024. We have no obligation to update or revise our forward-looking statements, except as required by law, and you should not expect us to do so.

We'll begin this afternoon with prepared remarks from Dave and Paula. Following our prepared comments, we'll open up the call for questions. [Operator Instructions] As always, the IR team will be available for any follow-up questions after the call.

And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Dave. Dave?

Dave Kimbell

Thank you, Kylie, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Ulta Beauty. For the quarter, net sales increased 0.9% to $2.6 billion and comparable sales decreased 1.2%. Operating profit was 12.9% of sales and diluted EPS was $5.30 per share. Although, we anticipated the headwinds experienced in the first quarter would continue, our results were short of our expectations, driven by a decrease in comp store sales, specifically comp store transactions.