Bath & Body Works vs Ulta Beauty
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The short version
- Ulta Beauty is the larger business, with $12.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $7.3B for Bath & Body Works, about 1.7 times as much.
- Ulta Beauty grew revenue faster (9.7%, against −0.2%).
- Bath & Body Works kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (15.4% operating margin, against 12.4%).
- Bath & Body Works turned more of its sales into free cash flow (11.9% FCF margin, against 8.6%).
- Ulta Beauty earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (55.8%, against 47.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Ulta Beauty’s earnings: a P/E of 22.8x against 5.5x for Bath & Body Works.
| Latest fiscal year | BBWI · FY25 | ULTA · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $4.2B | $26.9B |
| Revenue | $7.3B | $12.4B |
| Free cash flow | $865M | $1.1B |
| Net income | $649M | $1.2B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −0.2% | 9.7% |
| 5-year growth | 2.5% | 15.0% |
| Share count change | −5.4% | −5.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 43.7% | 39.1% |
| Operating margin | 15.4% | 12.4% |
| Net margin | 8.9% | 9.3% |
| FCF margin | 11.9% | 8.6% |
| Return on capital | 47.5% | 55.8% |
| Return on equity | — | 43.6% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $2.9B | −$432M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.1x | −0.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $568M | $901M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 5.5x | 22.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
BBWI $12.6B
ULTA $4.9B
FY17
BBWI $12.6B
ULTA $5.9B
FY18
BBWI $13.2B
ULTA $6.7B
FY19
BBWI $5.4B
ULTA $7.4B
FY20
BBWI $6.4B
ULTA $6.2B
FY21
BBWI $7.9B
ULTA $8.6B
FY22
BBWI $7.6B
ULTA $10.2B
FY23
BBWI $7.4B
ULTA $11.2B
FY24
BBWI $7.3B
ULTA $11.3B
FY25
BBWI $7.3B
ULTA $12.4B
BBWI
ULTA
Operating margin
FY16
BBWI 15.9%
ULTA 13.5%
FY17
BBWI 13.7%
ULTA 13.4%
FY18
BBWI 9.4%
ULTA 12.7%
FY19
BBWI 19.2%
ULTA 12.2%
FY20
BBWI 24.9%
ULTA 3.9%
FY21
BBWI 25.5%
ULTA 15.0%
FY22
BBWI 18.2%
ULTA 16.1%
FY23
BBWI 17.3%
ULTA 15.0%
FY24
BBWI 17.3%
ULTA 13.9%
FY25
BBWI 15.4%
ULTA 12.4%
BBWI
ULTA
Free cash flow
FY16
BBWI $1.0B
ULTA $261M
FY17
BBWI $699M
ULTA $339M
FY18
BBWI $748M
ULTA $637M
FY19
BBWI $778M
ULTA $803M
FY20
BBWI $1.8B
ULTA $658M
FY21
BBWI $1.2B
ULTA $887M
FY22
BBWI $816M
ULTA $1.2B
FY23
BBWI $656M
ULTA $1.0B
FY24
BBWI $660M
ULTA $964M
FY25
BBWI $865M
ULTA $1.1B
BBWI
ULTA
Return on capital
FY16
BBWI 45.9%
ULTA 38.9%
FY17
BBWI 40.0%
ULTA 44.1%
FY18
BBWI 26.8%
ULTA 47.0%
FY19
BBWI 26.2%
ULTA 50.0%
FY20
BBWI 52.8%
ULTA 15.3%
FY21
BBWI 86.0%
ULTA 96.0%
FY22
BBWI 75.1%
ULTA 106.5%
FY23
BBWI 71.2%
ULTA 93.4%
FY24
BBWI 56.1%
ULTA 72.2%
FY25
BBWI 47.5%
ULTA 55.8%
BBWI
ULTA
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.