Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) said on Wednesday that organic net sales were up 5% to $3.63 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, rising 3% to $15 billion for the full year and beating analyst expectations. Shares were up 9% in pre-market trading.
This marks the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of growth, in line with its Beauty Reimagined growth plan, as well as the first earnings call since the ELC-Puig merger was called off, after the companies failed to reach an agreement.
“When we introduced Beauty Reimagined in February 2025, we committed to the biggest organizational leadership and cultural transformation in our company’s history to become faster and more agile with greater discipline. Our ambition was clear: to become the best consumer-centric prestige beauty company with more diversified balance and sustainable growth drivers,” ELC CEO and president Stéphane de La Faverie said during the earnings call, noting that the fiscal 2026 results reflect the early success of this ambition.
For the full year, ELC increased its portfolio of billion-dollar brands from four to six, with Jo Malone and Tom Ford joining Clinique, Estée Lauder, La Mer and Mac Cosmetics. “With their scale, premier brand desirability, breakthrough innovation, and consumer reach, these brands are positioned to be powerful contributor to growth,” de La Faverie told investors.
Fragrance was, once again, a bright spot for the group, up 10% in Q4 to $618 million, and up another 10% for fiscal 2026 to $2.8 billion. Growth was led by brands including Le Labo, Tom Ford and Kilian Paris. Skincare was up 7% in the quarter to $1.85 billion, rising 4% to $7.3 billion for the full year. Makeup was up 2% in Q4 to $1 billion, but remained flat at $4.3 billion revenue in 2026. Haircare fell 1% to $140 million in the quarter, and dipped 1% to $595 million for the year.
By region, Q4 revenues rose 5% to $995 million in the Americas, driven primarily by North America’s return to growth. Revenues for the EUKEM region, which includes Europe, the UK, Ireland and emerging markets, were up 1% to $851 million. Asia-Pacific revenues rose 9% to $970 million, while Mainland China revenues were up 7% to $824 million in the fourth quarter.
For fiscal 2026, the Americas were up 1% to $4.5 billion, while EUKEM revenues rose 1% to $3.8 billion. Asia-Pacific sales rose 4% to $3.7 billion, thanks in part to travel retail in Korea and Hong Kong SAR, and Mainland China revenues were up 9% to $3.1 billion, driven by innovation and existing products, especially during key shopping moments and holidays.
Regarding M&A (“the elephant in the room”, de La Faverie said on the call), the company’s focus will remain on growing its core businesses, the CEO said. “We will continue to pursue minority and single brand deals that enhance our portfolio and can benefit from our ability to create scale and deliver attractive ROIC,” he said, noting that three recent acquisitions — Le Labo, The Ordinary, and Kilian Paris — were ELC’s three fastest-growing brands in 2026. “To be clear, for the foreseeable future, we are not entertaining transformational deals that will divert us from our winning strategy.”
Looking ahead to fiscal 2027, the company affirmed its outlook of 3-5% organic net sales growth, and raised its adjusted operating margin to 12.7-13.5%, up from its previous expectation of 12.5-13%. The company expects organic net sales growth in the first half of the year to be stronger than the second half, partly due to a slate of innovation earlier in the year, CFO Akhil Shrivastava flagged.
“We enter fiscal 2027 as a different company,” Shrivastava told investors. “[We are] more focused, more agile, and better positioned to execute with speed and excellence. We remain confident in Beauty Reimagine and our ability to deliver sustainable growth and long-term value creation.”
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