Beauty products company Estée Lauder (NYSE:EL) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 5.6% year on year to $4.23 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.89 per share was 6.6% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy Estée Lauder? Find out in our full research report.

Revenue: $4.23 billion vs analyst estimates of $4.22 billion (5.6% year-on-year growth, in line)

Adjusted EPS: $0.89 vs analyst estimates of $0.83 (6.6% beat)

Management raised its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance to $2.15 at the midpoint, a 7.5% increase

Operating Margin: 9.5%, up from -14.5% in the same quarter last year

Free Cash Flow Margin: 24%, similar to the same quarter last year

Organic Revenue rose 4% year on year (beat)

Market Capitalization: $43.1 billion

“We delivered excellent second quarter results to solidify a strong first half of fiscal 2026,” said Stéphane de La Faverie, President and CEO.

Named after its founder, who was an entrepreneurial woman from New York with a passion for skincare, Estée Lauder (NYSE:EL) is a one-stop beauty shop with products in skincare, fragrance, makeup, sun protection, and men’s grooming.

A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.

With $14.67 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Estée Lauder is one of the larger consumer staples companies and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions. However, its scale is a double-edged sword because it’s harder to find incremental growth when your existing brands have penetrated most of the market. To accelerate sales, Estée Lauder likely needs to optimize its pricing or lean into new products and international expansion.

As you can see below, Estée Lauder’s demand was weak over the last three years. Its sales fell by 3.6% annually, a tough starting point for our analysis.

This quarter, Estée Lauder grew its revenue by 5.6% year on year, and its $4.23 billion of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 4.2% over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products will spur better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average.

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When analyzing revenue growth, we care most about organic revenue growth. This metric captures a business’s performance excluding one-time events such as mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures as well as foreign currency fluctuations.

Estée Lauder’s demand has been falling over the last eight quarters, and on average, its organic sales have declined by 1.5% year on year.

In the latest quarter, Estée Lauder’s organic sales rose by 4% year on year. This growth was a well-appreciated turnaround from its historical levels, showing the business is regaining momentum.

It was good to see Estée Lauder narrowly top analysts’ organic revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its full-year EPS guidance fell slightly short of Wall Street’s estimates. This guide is weighing on shares. The stock traded down 7.9% to $110.18 immediately after reporting.

Estée Lauder’s latest earnings report disappointed. One quarter doesn’t define a company’s quality, so let’s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.