The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. · EL · FY2025 Q1 · Calendar Q4 2024

Estee Lauder: Margin gains cannot offset China weakness

The quarter offers evidence that cost actions and selective share gains can support profitability, but it does not yet support a durable growth case: sales declined, guidance was withdrawn, and China and travel retail remain material constraints.

Reported Before market openNYSEConsumer Defensive $38.33B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $0.14 Consensus $0.09
EPS surprise +56.9% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $3.36B Consensus $3.37B
Revenue surprise -0.3% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move -20.9% Event window
SPY move -2.0% Same window
Abnormal move -18.9% Stock minus SPY
Volume 9.0× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +4.6% Up to 20 sessions
ELSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

The latest analysis shows a sharper near-term reset than the prior quarter: organic sales declined 5%, guidance was withdrawn, and the dividend was reduced. At the same time, gross-margin expansion, an EPS beat, and reported share gains in skincare and fragrance point to operational progress.

Guidance delta

Guidance was lowered: management withdrew its full-year outlook amid continued uncertainty.

Key takeaways

  • Organic sales declined 5% in Q1, driven mainly by mainland China and Asia travel retail.
  • Adjusted gross margin expanded by more than 300 basis points, and EPS exceeded the supplied estimate.
  • Management cited skincare and luxury-fragrance share gains, alongside digital-channel expansion.
  • The dividend was reduced and full-year guidance withdrawn, raising the execution bar for the PRGP.

Management priorities

  • Execute the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan to improve gross margin and profitability
  • Launch nighttime skincare products and new fragrance collections
  • Expand Amazon Premium Beauty and other digital channels
  • Use data and AI to improve precision marketing while preserving cash

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
EL EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 3 future estimate-only quarters. Q2 '24 estimate $0.55 Q2 '24 actual $0.88, beat Q3 '24 estimate $0.49 Q3 '24 actual $0.97, beat Q4 '24 estimate $0.27 Q4 '24 actual $0.64, beat Q1 '25 estimate $0.09 Q1 '25 actual $0.14, beat Q4 '25 estimate $0.09 Q4 '25 actual $0.09, match Q1 '26 estimate $0.18 Q1 '26 actual $0.32, beat Q2 '26 estimate $0.83 Q2 '26 actual $0.89, beat Q3 '26 estimate $0.65 Q3 '26 actual $0.91, beat Q4 '26 estimate $0.32 Q4 '26 actual $0.39, beat Q1 '27 estimate $0.51 Q2 '27 estimate $1.17 Q3 '27 estimate $1.05
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusHold45 ratings
Bullish2044.4%
Neutral2146.7%
Bearish48.9%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$105.78Previous close
$60Low
$138.1Average
$360High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted previous close from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 20, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Jefferies Hold HoldMaintainOct 19, 2026
Morgan Stanley Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainOct 15, 2026
Wells Fargo Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainOct 5, 2026
Barclays Overweight Equal WeightUpgradeOct 5, 2026
UBS Neutral NeutralMaintainAug 20, 2026
Show 40 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted previous close $105.78. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Goldman SachsBonnie Herzog$124$104.65 +17.2%Oct 19, 2026
JefferiesAnalyst unavailable$120$104.54 +13.4%Oct 19, 2026
BernsteinCristian Rios$114$106.99 +7.8%Oct 16, 2026
BarclaysLauren Lieberman$108$91.97 +2.1%Oct 5, 2026
Berenberg BankFulvio Cazzol$92$104.1 -13.0%Aug 25, 2026
See 89 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is a global entity dedicated to the development, marketing, and sale of a diverse range of premium beauty and personal care items worldwide. Its extensive product catalog encompasses numerous offerings across four primary categories. For skin care, it provides moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body treatments, exfoliants, acne and oil control solutions, facial masks, specialized cleansing devices, and sun protection. In makeup, consumers can find lipsticks, glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, nail polishes, powders, compacts, brushes, and various other cosmetic tools. The fragrance segment includes eau de parfum sprays, colognes, scented lotions, powders, creams, candles, and soaps.…

Historical context

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2024-11-10T18:38:36.707185+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-20T10:10:43.112428+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-20T10:10:43.109548+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-20. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.