E.l.f. Beauty sales jump 50% on gains in color cosmetics and skin care, launch of Bronzing Drops serum

E.l.f. Beauty‘s growth story is still going.

The cosmetics retailer on Thursday blew past quarterly estimates again, posting a 50% gain in sales. 

The company’s sales soared to $324.5 million in its fiscal first quarter, leading it to raise its full-year guidance. That increase follows a staggering 76% jump in the year-ago quarter.

CEO Tarang Amin told CNBC the company saw growth across its categories. He added that its Bronzing Drops serum quickly became a best seller on the company’s website after its launch during the quarter.

Here’s how the cosmetics company performed compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.10 adjusted vs. 84 cents expected
• Revenue: $324 million vs. $305 million expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended June 30 was $47.6 million, or 81 cents per share, compared with $53 million, or 93 cents per share, a year earlier.  

Sales rose to $324.5 million, up about 50% from $216.3 million a year earlier. 

Following quarter after quarter of outsized growth, Wall Street has come to expect a lot from E.l.f. Beauty. Though it raised its guidance Thursday, the outlook still fell flat after such a big first-quarter beat. 

For fiscal 2025, E.l.f. now expects sales of between $1.28 billion and $1.3 billion, compared with its previous outlook of $1.23 billion and $1.25 billion. Analysts had expected sales guidance of $1.3 billion, according to LSEG.

The company now anticipates its adjusted net income will be between $198 million and $201 million, compared with a previous outlook of between $187 million and $191 million. E.l.f. expects adjusted earnings per share to be between $3.36 and $3.41, compared with previous guidance of $3.20 to $3.25. Analysts had expected earnings of $3.42 per share, according to LSEG. 

Shares fell about 6% in extended trading.

When it reported fiscal 2024 results in May, E.l.f. disappointed investors with an outlook that came in below expectations. Sentiment later turned around after its finance chief, Mandy Fields, suggested that the company tends to issue conservative guidance. 

“Last year, we started our guidance at 22% to 24% range, ended the year at 77%,” Fields told analysts at the time. “I’m not saying that we’re promising 77% this year for sure. But what I will say is that gives you a little bit of insight into our guidance philosophy.” 

On Thursday, Amin told CNBC that Fields takes a “balanced” approach to guidance and prefers to take things one quarter at a time. 

“If you look at our history over the last five years, these 22 quarters, we typically guide lower than where we eventually come out,” said Amin. “We never want to get ahead of ourselves, and overall the strategy has worked just great … we’re going to take you through what we’re seeing quarter by quarter, and hopefully we continue to kind of beat that.” 

He added that he isn’t concerned about a consumer pullback in the beauty category and remains “bullish” on the broader environment.

“We are hearing kind of in the macro, ‘Hey, is the consumer being choosier?’ I’d say if they are, they’re choosing E.l.f.,” said Amin. “So we’re perhaps differently positioned, and if you look over the last 22 quarters, it didn’t matter what was happening in the category, whether it was the pandemic, whether it was inflationary pressures … you name it, we’ve performed well throughout that, and I think it really comes down to our fundamental business model and how we’re different.” 

E.l.f., a digitally native beauty retailer that was founded in 2004, has gained a newfound relevance among Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers through marketing that lands with those younger shoppers and meets them where they are on places such as TikTok and Roblox. 

It’s known for creating value versions of prestige favorites, such as its new Bronzing Drops, which customers compare to Drunk Elephant’s product Sunshine Drops. The prestige skin care line offers its product for $38, while E.l.f.’s retails for just $12.

“These bronzing drops were the No. 1 requested item from our community, and our community comes to us and says, ‘Hey, there’s a prestige item there. We love them, but E.l.f., help us out. We can’t afford 38 bucks for bronzing drops,'” said Amin. “So we’ll study it. We’ll put our own E.l.f. twist on it and we’ll introduce ours at $12. Went to No. 1 right away on Elfcosmetics.com.”

The company doesn’t compare its products to any specific brands and instead lets its fan base fill in the blanks.

“Even though we don’t make the comparison ourselves, there’s like a thousand TikTok videos after we launch this product where people are doing side-by-sides or comparing it,” said Amin. “They’re like, it’s $12 versus the $38 item and actually, I like the E.l.f. one better, the quality’s better.'”

In July, the company expanded its collaboration with Roblox that enabled users ages 13 and up to buy limited edition products such as its “e.l.f. UP! Pets Hoodie” and mainstays such as its lip and SPF products. 

During the Olympics, it had splashy marketing campaigns with gymnast Gabby Douglas, a three-time gold medalist, and blind swimmer Anastasia “Tas” Pagonis. It also collaborated with actress Jameela Jamil on the launch of its new Bronzing Drops.

However, all that marketing doesn’t come cheap and has weighed on E.l.f.’s bottom line. During the quarter, selling, general and administrative expenses increased by roughly $88.6 million to $180.6 million, representing 56% of net sales. The spike in marketing spending contributed to a 10% drop in E.l.f.’s net income. 

Amin said the company is spending more on marketing this year than last but that was more a result of timing. He added E.l.f. is working to get marketing spend “more consistent” throughout the year as a percentage of sales. 

“We continue to invest more in marketing because it’s working,” said Amin. “Our marketing ROIs are multiples ahead of the category benchmarks, we’re growing very strong top line. We’re building awareness.”