Ulta Beauty is a leading retailer of cosmetics, fragrances, skin care, haircare, bath, and beauty products, with a salon services segment specializing in hair styling and make-up. Founded in 1990, the company is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and has approximately 21,000 full time employees. The company operates over 1,500 Ulta Beauty stores across 50 states and over 80 Space NK stores in the U.K. and Ireland.

New Federal Reserve Chairman, Kevin Warsh and his cohorts at the FOMC left the fed funds target at 3.5% to 3.75%. But it's clear that there's a different sheriff in town and that there will be little, if any, forward guidance on monetary policy and only a bland characterization of how the economy is doing. While acknowledging the Fed's dual mandate of maximum sustainable employment and price stability, Mr. Warsh did acknowledge, 'we've got some work to do on the price stability front.' The 2-year Treasury yield shot up to 4.19% from 4.06% midday and was up 14 basis points (bps) on the day. That was the highest yield close for the 2-year since February 2025 and leaves the historically trusty leading indicator of the fed funds rate looking for at least a few 25 bps hikes. The CME FedWatch Tool is now looking for one or two small hikes by the end of 2026. The stock market sniffed out uncertainty concerning monetary policy with at least a hawkish tint -- and didn't like it one bit. The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, more than filled its recent price gap, and is back below its 21-day exponential moving average (EMA) on a minor basis. The index has given back half of its recent three-day rally. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) fell 1%, filled its price gap, and remains above its 21-day EMA. Breadth was weak, with 2.2% to 2.8% losses in four sectors. Communication Services were hit the hardest, followed by Real Estate, Consumer Discretionary, and Consumer Staples. Healthcare, Materials, Utilities, and Energy declined 1.3% to 1.5%. It's only one day and the market knew Warsh would give less guidance, so perhaps cooler heads will prevail.

Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the US with more than 1,500 freestanding stores. The firm offers cosmetics (38% of 2025 sales), fragrances (13%), skin care (24%), and hair care products (19%). It also has salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow, that account for 4% of its revenue and drive customer traffic. Outside of the US, Ulta operates premium beauty retailer Space NK (86 stores at year-end 2025 in the UK and Ireland) and has franchised stores in Mexico, and a joint venture in the Middle East. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

AI is helping lift profits at consumer companies on multiple levels. It allows companies to better understand their customers, which can improve target marketing and customization. Companies can hone menus, goods, and services to achieve broader appeal and to reach new audiences. Consumer companies are also harnessing AI technology to help with processes, inventory control, and supply-chain management, and in many other ways. By way of examples, restaurants are using smart robots to take orders, and prep and serve food. They also have front and back offices, and AI is helping make both more efficient and cost effective. As well, consumer companies utilize a lot of data, and AI helps elevate the use of that data. We recently concluded our five-part webinar series on AI, looking at how different industries are using AI. Our final event spotlighted consumer companies. For this week's list, we offer details on the BUY-rated stocks we highlighted during the webinar.