PREVIEW: Ulta Beauty glows heading into report after the bell
** Shares of Ulta Beauty ULTA.O up ~1.3% on Thurs with co's Q2 report due after the bell, as investors eye slowing demand for beauty and cosmetics products
** Cosmetics firms including Coty COTY.N, E.l.f. Beauty ELF.N, France's L'Oreal OREP.PA and Estee Lauder EL.N have delivered disappointing results/forecasts recently, signaling strained consumer spending, mainly in China
** ULTA's shares got a boost earlier this month, jumping ~11% on Aug 15 after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N revealed it acquired stake worth approx $266 mln
** Still, at least six brokerages including Jefferies, JP Morgan and Evercore have cut their respective PTs over the past week
** Evercore, which has "outperform" rating, reduced PT from $500 to $430, citing continued category weakness, tough competition and recent bounce in the stock
** Wall Street expects ULTA rev up 3.3% yr/yr to $2.6 bln and adj EPS of $5.46, down from $6.02 a yr-ago, per LSEG data
** 14 of 30 analysts covering ULTA rate stock "strong buy" or "buy", 15 have "hold", while 1 recommends "sell"
** Median PT of $450 implies about 21% upside to current levels
** With move on Thurs, ULTA's shares down 24% YTD vs S&P Consumer Discretionary sector's .SPLRCD 5% advance and S&P 500's .SPX 18% rise
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
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