ULTA vs AZO Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Ulta's beauty category specialty model against AutoZone's high-margin auto parts retail and buyback strategy.
Use this Ulta Beauty vs AutoZone comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
AZO holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. ULTA leads on both 1-year return (+6.22%) and forward P/E quality (16.15x vs 16.91x for AZO), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, ULTA is growing revenue faster (8.90%), while AZO maintains the higher operating margin (19.08%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for AZO (+33.38%) than for ULTA (+20.60%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | ULTA | AZO |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 42.6 | 50.8 |
| AI ranki | #905 | #484 |
| Latest closei | $564.12 | $2,983.29 |
| 1M returni | +4.57% | -2.70% |
| 6M returni | -13.70% | -20.28% |
| 1Y returni | +6.22% | -28.79% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | ULTA | AZO |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $10.65K (+6.5%) started 2025-09-04 | $7.05K (-29.5%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $14.87K (+48.7%) started 2021-09-07 | $19.55K (+95.5%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $22.6K (+126.0%) started 2016-09-06 | $40.46K (+304.6%) started 2016-09-06 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | ULTA | AZO |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $22.13B | $49.73B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 18.83 | 20.37 |
| Forward P/Ei | 16.15 | 16.91 |
| Price/Salesi | 1.83 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.89 | 3.06 |
| Analyst targeti | $624.08 | $3,950.52 |
| Target upsidei | +20.60% | +33.38% |
| Metric | ULTA | AZO |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 8.90% | 8.40% |
| Earnings growthi | 13.30% | 7.70% |
| EPS growthi | +13.30% | +7.70% |
| FCF margini | +7.06% | +4.52% |
| Operating margini | 12.51% | 19.08% |
| Profit margini | 9.34% | 12.40% |
| ROIC proxyi | 46.12% | N/A |
| Return on equityi | 46.12% | N/A |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 0.85 | 0.34 |
| Debt/equityi | 95.47 | N/A |
| Current ratioi | 1.34 | 0.89 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.20 | 0.10 |
Over the past year, ULTA and AZO have moved barely in the same direction (correlation of 0.14), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | ULTA | AZO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +6.54% | -29.52% |
| CAGRi | +6.55% | -29.56% | |
| Volatilityi | 34.70% | 29.08% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.23 | -1.21 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.32 | -1.52 | |
| Max drawdowni | 36.23% | 32.86% | |
| Current drawdowni | 20.19% | 31.49% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 15.37% | 19.25% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 19.99% | 21.17% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.24% | 8.99% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 20.23% | 14.63% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +48.71% | +95.47% |
| CAGRi | +8.27% | +14.37% | |
| Volatilityi | 34.71% | 25.06% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.27 | 0.48 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.39 | 0.67 | |
| Max drawdowni | 44.56% | 32.86% | |
| Current drawdowni | 20.19% | 31.49% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 16.23% | 7.77% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 20.40% | 11.01% | |
| Max daily dropi | 15.34% | 9.46% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 20.23% | 14.63% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +125.97% | +304.65% |
| CAGRi | +8.50% | +15.01% | |
| Volatilityi | 38.58% | 26.79% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.29 | 0.49 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.41 | 0.67 | |
| Max drawdowni | 64.92% | 42.14% | |
| Current drawdowni | 20.19% | 31.49% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 17.73% | 8.92% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 22.30% | 12.52% | |
| Max daily dropi | 29.55% | 15.94% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 41.90% | 28.10% |
| Category | ULTA | AZO |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ULTA | AZO |
| Sector | Consumer Cyclical | Consumer Cyclical |
| Industry | Specialty Retail | Auto Parts |
| Core business | Ulta Beauty, Inc. operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States, Mexico, and Kuwait. | AutoZone, Inc. operates as a retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. |
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