Would You Consider Investing in Ulta Beauty (ULTA)?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Large Cap Growth Strategy” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Growth Index benchmark during the fourth quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains across seven of the eight sectors in which it was invested (out of 11 sectors total). The leading contributors to performance were in the IT and health care sectors, while the communication services sector was a detractor. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1990, Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) is a Bolingbrook, Illinois-based beauty salon company with a $20.8 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, David C. Kimbell. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) delivered a -3.29% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by 24.61%. The stock closed at $398.78 per share on April 07, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy has to say about Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Several encouraging macro trends are emerging in support of two areas outside tech: consumer spending and industrial production. Unlike in past recessions and recoveries, consumer balance sheets have actually improved dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. This should feed through to increased spending on discretionary items offered by retailers like Ulta Beauty. We expect the supply chain constraints contributing to inflation and goods shortages will begin to lessen with an ambitious rebuilding of inventories.”

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Our calculations show that Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) was in 37 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 42 funds in the previous quarter. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) delivered a -0.43% return in the past 3 months. You can find more than 100 investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.