Estee Lauder Faces Quarterly Loss

Estee Lauder, a renowned beauty giant, faced a 6.8% decline in premarket trading as they reported a loss in the fourth quarter and a lower-than-expected sales growth forecast for fiscal 2024.

The stock, which closed at $162.06 on Thursday, dropped to $150.98. Year-to-date, Estee Lauder shares have fallen approximately 35%.

In the three months ending June 30, Estee Lauder recorded a loss of $33 million, equivalent to 9 cents per share. This is in stark contrast to a profit of $153 million, or 43 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. It is worth noting that the company hadn't experienced a loss since the initial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic three years ago.

Estee Lauder has also projected another loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, projecting a decline in sales of 10% to 12% during this period.

As for fiscal 2024, Estee Lauder expects sales growth of 5% to 7%. They plan to achieve this through strategic price increases and reduced discounts to counterbalance the slower-than-expected recovery in travel retail sales on the duty-free island of Hainan, China. However, their sales forecast of up to $17.02 billion for the year falls slightly short of analysts' expectations of $17.21 billion according to FactSet.