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Stock Analysis on Net

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

This company has been moved to the archive! The financial data has not been updated since August 24, 2023.

Cash Flow Statement
Quarterly Data

The cash flow statement provides information about a company cash receipts and cash payments during an accounting period, showing how these cash flows link the ending cash balance to the beginning balance shown on the company balance sheet.

The cash flow statement consists of three parts: cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities, cash flows provided by (used in) investing activities, and cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities.

Ulta Beauty Inc., consolidated cash flow statement (quarterly data)

US$ in thousands

Microsoft Excel
3 months ended: Jul 29, 2023 Apr 29, 2023 Jan 28, 2023 Oct 29, 2022 Jul 30, 2022 Apr 30, 2022 Jan 29, 2022 Oct 30, 2021 Jul 31, 2021 May 1, 2021 Jan 30, 2021 Oct 31, 2020 Aug 1, 2020 May 2, 2020 Feb 1, 2020 Nov 2, 2019 Aug 3, 2019 May 4, 2019 Feb 2, 2019 Nov 3, 2018 Aug 4, 2018 May 5, 2018 Feb 3, 2018 Oct 28, 2017 Jul 29, 2017 Apr 29, 2017
Net income (loss) 300,102 347,051 340,751 274,585 295,677 331,395 289,366 215,289 250,893 230,289 171,494 74,798 8,052 (78,509) 222,719 129,747 161,258 192,221 214,674 131,166 148,323 164,396 208,173 104,645 114,193 128,223
Depreciation and amortization 61,913 57,949 59,190 58,461 60,882 62,839 63,726 65,157 68,978 70,599 71,386 72,357 77,403 76,626 76,392 74,256 73,141 71,810 71,820 69,837 69,026 68,789 65,003 62,128 63,106 62,476
Non-cash lease expense 77,389 75,478 79,364 76,297 74,059 72,192 70,212 68,496 68,640 68,881 71,717 63,546 61,945 70,863 59,600 67,086 76,903 75,231 — — — — — — — —
Long-lived asset impairment charge — — — — — — — — — — 2,601 9,935 40,455 19,542 — — — — — — — — — — — —
Deferred income taxes (1,478) 2,144 16,719 (1,402) (673) 1,009 (27,574) 2,732 (1,948) 1,124 (23,753) (5,160) (1,004) 5,909 5,511 (2,742) (3,786) 6,520 34,488 (1,020) (861) 1,473 (19,244) (6,534) (1,585) 268
Stock-based compensation expense 11,818 9,721 10,490 9,679 12,519 10,356 9,042 19,120 10,119 8,978 4,604 8,384 8,413 6,182 5,937 6,342 6,736 6,030 6,328 7,136 7,002 6,170 6,501 6,249 6,158 5,491
Loss on disposal of property and equipment 2,427 1,451 2,796 1,615 1,275 1,002 2,001 1,654 614 1,089 1,608 2,946 752 1,521 1,029 1,606 1,850 1,365 1,546 840 (299) 798 1,811 3,359 711 1,637
Receivables 15,838 9,140 882 (19,790) 12,240 40,928 (64,470) (14,796) (74) 38,767 (56,838) (8,279) (39,301) 50,646 (26,449) (5,625) 2,783 8,654 (33,793) 1,353 (3,392) (555) (16,785) (15,341) (4,657) 25,695
Merchandise inventories (64,304) (147,784) 511,218 (448,539) (95,578) (71,334) 417,125 (472,658) (90,120) (185,350) 270,883 (70,555) (27,977) (46,865) 323,219 (300,921) (65,962) (35,708) 266,122 (264,880) (82,869) (40,392) 253,290 (205,012) (96,271) (104,456)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets (2,510) 22,232 7,396 (14,628) (8,939) (3,261) (5,230) 2,559 250 (991) (7,370) 2,153 (5,672) 6,526 14,776 12,828 6,002 (24,317) (19,847) (14,651) (7,088) 2,136 2,737 (3,188) (8,335) (1,259)
Income taxes (88,809) 97,003 4,264 (3,540) (147,142) 101,236 44,375 (18,953) (132,505) 71,431 44,958 40,193 6,360 (32,595) 24,087 (1,705) (55,203) 33,431 5,297 (5,212) (69,087) 39,393 17,078 4,658 (63,645) 45,550
Accounts payable (101,009) 62,257 (85,905) 54,163 (2,535) 42,586 (199,948) 206,744 (17,220) 76,580 (13) 80,823 (65,451) 46,965 (180,984) 144,876 42,772 3,329 (170,463) 164,628 37,185 46,906 (121,535) 133,810 (5,869) 59,834
Accrued liabilities (4,248) (98,515) (15,915) 113,528 7,850 (57,214) 34,116 6,624 (5,351) 23,209 34,017 57,483 31,026 (63,927) 5,074 25,738 (12,600) 9,971 (12,886) 48,723 (54,754) 48,182 55,612 10,836 24,772 (54,329)
Deferred revenue (2,964) (37,460) 82,545 (4,439) (8,123) (28,885) 80,951 7,166 (4,628) (4,293) 49,521 8,317 215 (21,205) 47,347 7,834 (639) (16,061) 48,721 8,540 60,415 (66,992) — — — —
Operating lease liabilities (84,965) (78,562) (77,512) (83,686) (83,366) (79,936) (81,463) (75,559) (74,717) (72,175) (84,848) (75,282) (68,407) (68,976) (58,729) (59,624) (70,922) (67,635) — — — — — — — —
Deferred rent — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 2,928 9,597 8,236 6,303 7,439 12,807 15,192 6,287
Other assets and liabilities 4,707 (17,204) (27,794) 20,455 (3,782) 3,390 12,179 (131) (1,585) 1,929 1,343 (18,603) 13,498 2,979 24,258 10,474 13,325 6,837 (1,022) (1,846) (1,097) 656 (9,807) 683 479 327
Change in operating assets and liabilities (328,264) (188,893) 399,179 (386,476) (329,375) (52,490) 237,635 (359,004) (325,950) (50,893) 251,653 16,250 (155,709) (126,452) 172,599 (166,125) (140,444) (81,499) 85,057 (53,748) (112,451) 35,637 188,029 (60,747) (138,334) (22,351)
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (176,195) (42,150) 567,738 (241,826) (181,313) 94,908 355,042 (201,845) (179,547) 99,778 379,816 168,258 32,255 54,191 321,068 (19,577) 14,400 79,457 199,239 23,045 (37,583) 112,867 242,100 4,455 (69,944) 47,521
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 123,907 304,901 908,489 32,759 114,364 426,303 644,408 13,444 71,346 330,067 551,310 243,056 40,307 (24,318) 543,787 110,170 175,658 271,678 413,913 154,211 110,740 277,263 450,273 109,100 44,249 175,744
Purchases of short-term investments — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 135,000 — (50,000) (195,000) — 171,970 (320,970) (237,193) (90,000) — (120,000) (120,000)
Proceeds from short-term investments — — — — — — — — — — — — 110,000 — (245,000) 150,000 95,000 — — (22,970) 409,163 120,000 30,000 120,000 90,000 —
Capital expenditures (94,982) (109,766) (108,165) (83,461) (49,424) (71,076) (63,769) (51,113) (22,742) (34,563) (35,121) (39,655) (35,616) (41,474) (57,398) (89,923) (79,377) (71,836) (62,985) (114,724) (67,432) (74,259) (103,075) (144,429) (116,456) (76,754)
Acquisitions, net of cash acquired — — — — — — — — — — — — (1,220) — — — — — — (13,606) — — — — — —
Other investments (1,373) (314) 610 (1,819) (452) (797) (4,297) — — — — (279) — (5,386) (19,189) (10,418) (20,603) (12,736) (2,101) — — — — — — —
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities (96,355) (110,080) (107,555) (85,280) (49,876) (71,873) (68,066) (51,113) (22,742) (34,563) (35,121) (39,934) 73,164 (46,860) (186,587) 49,659 (54,980) (279,572) (65,086) 20,670 20,761 (191,452) (163,075) (24,429) (146,456) (196,754)
Proceeds from long-term debt — — — — — — — — — — — — — 800,000 — — — — — — — — — — — —
Payments on long-term debt — — — — — — — — — — — (800,000) — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Repurchase of common shares (275,494) (283,517) (328,125) (137,460) (301,614) (132,834) (759,758) (126,374) (243,484) (392,309) (41,914) — — (72,981) (174,111) (128,568) (270,901) (107,399) (236,771) (118,971) (127,401) (133,051) (57,814) (131,682) (126,488) (51,597)
Stock options exercised 220 8,927 14,692 6,798 18,019 6,502 10,089 7,489 17,776 5,032 10,883 769 327 250 569 276 879 42,056 453 4,220 1,936 6,512 1,341 1,670 1,348 11,831
Purchase of treasury shares (100) (21,659) (252) (415) (1,153) (5,172) (166) (8,537) (208) (6,766) (97) (191) (63) (3,002) (176) (92) (89) (9,183) (202) (293) (815) (4,831) (35) (181) (1,518) (2,509)
Debt issuance costs — — — — — — — — — — (54) — (62) (1,799) — — — — — — — — (32) (551) — —
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (275,374) (296,249) (313,685) (131,077) (284,748) (131,504) (749,835) (127,422) (225,916) (394,043) (31,182) (799,422) 202 722,468 (173,718) (128,384) (270,111) (74,526) (236,520) (115,044) (126,280) (131,370) (56,540) (130,744) (126,658) (42,275)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents — — — — — — — — — (56) 142 (116) 105 (75) — — — — — — — — — — — —
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (247,822) (101,428) 487,249 (183,598) (220,260) 222,926 (173,493) (165,091) (177,312) (98,595) 485,149 (596,416) 113,778 651,215 183,482 31,445 (149,433) (82,420) 112,307 59,837 5,221 (45,559) 230,658 (46,073) (228,865) (63,285)

Based on: 10-Q (reporting date: 2023-07-29), 10-Q (reporting date: 2023-04-29), 10-K (reporting date: 2023-01-28), 10-Q (reporting date: 2022-10-29), 10-Q (reporting date: 2022-07-30), 10-Q (reporting date: 2022-04-30), 10-K (reporting date: 2022-01-29), 10-Q (reporting date: 2021-10-30), 10-Q (reporting date: 2021-07-31), 10-Q (reporting date: 2021-05-01), 10-K (reporting date: 2021-01-30), 10-Q (reporting date: 2020-10-31), 10-Q (reporting date: 2020-08-01), 10-Q (reporting date: 2020-05-02), 10-K (reporting date: 2020-02-01), 10-Q (reporting date: 2019-11-02), 10-Q (reporting date: 2019-08-03), 10-Q (reporting date: 2019-05-04), 10-K (reporting date: 2019-02-02), 10-Q (reporting date: 2018-11-03), 10-Q (reporting date: 2018-08-04), 10-Q (reporting date: 2018-05-05), 10-K (reporting date: 2018-02-03), 10-Q (reporting date: 2017-10-28), 10-Q (reporting date: 2017-07-29), 10-Q (reporting date: 2017-04-29).


The cash flow profile demonstrates a company with strong operational cash generation capacity, characterized by significant growth in net income and a highly aggressive capital return strategy through share repurchases. Despite a notable disruption in early 2020, the recovery was rapid, leading to record levels of operating cash flow by 2023.

Operating Cash Flow and Profitability
Net income showed a general upward trend, rising from approximately 128 million USD in early 2017 to over 300 million USD by mid-2023. A significant anomaly occurred on May 2, 2020, where a net loss of 78.5 million USD was recorded, coinciding with a dip in net cash provided by operating activities to negative 24.3 million USD. Following this period, operating cash flows scaled aggressively, reaching a peak of 908.5 million USD on January 28, 2023, indicating high efficiency in converting earnings to cash.
Working Capital Dynamics
Cash flows are heavily influenced by fluctuations in merchandise inventories, which exhibit extreme seasonality. Large outflows for inventory stocking are typically offset by significant inflows during subsequent quarters, as seen in the alternating patterns between 2019 and 2023. This volatility is a primary driver of the variance between net income and net cash provided by operating activities.
Investing Activities and Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditures have been a consistent and necessary cash outflow, generally ranging between 30 million USD and 140 million USD per quarter. This indicates a steady commitment to maintaining and expanding the physical footprint. Investing activities were also marked by the active management of short-term investments, particularly between 2017 and 2020, where large purchases and proceeds were used to manage liquidity.
Financing Activities and Capital Allocation
The financing strategy is dominated by a consistent and substantial program of common share repurchases. Outflows for buybacks accelerated significantly in 2021 and 2022, with a peak expenditure of 759.8 million USD on January 29, 2022. Additionally, a strategic liquidity move was observed in 2020, where the company secured 800 million USD in long-term debt on May 2, 2020, and fully repaid that amount by October 31, 2020, suggesting a temporary bridge to ensure solvency during a period of operational volatility.
Liquidity and Cash Position
The net increase or decrease in cash and cash equivalents has been highly volatile due to the timing of large share repurchases and seasonal inventory shifts. However, the ability to fund massive buybacks and capital expenditures through internal operating cash flow, without maintaining long-term debt beyond the 2020 event, indicates a robust liquidity position.

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