EL
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
EL's fundamentals are strong, but it looks expensive: trading at 109x earnings, about twice its usual 59x. Analysts expect strong earnings growth.
EL Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Healthy |
EL's profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are currently healthy, and its revenue is stable.
EL PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 31x | $111 | — |
| Cheap | 37x | $37.64 | -66% |
| Fair | 59x | $59.97 | -46% |
| Current | 109x | $111 | — |
| Expensive | 118x | $119 | +7.5% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
EL's PE is in its expensive range at 109x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 31x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
EL Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for EL, with profitability improving.
EL Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $3.54 | +250% |
| Q3 2026 | $1.01 | +$3.60 |
| Q2 2026 | $0.50 | +$3.65 |
| Q1 2026 | -$0.71 | +$1.71 |
| Q4 2025 | -$0.51 | +$1.44 |
| Q3 2025 | -$2.59 | -562% |
| Q2 2025 | -$3.15 | -392% |
| Q1 2025 | -$2.42 | -235% |
| Q4 2024 | -$1.95 | -249% |
EL has returned to profit: it earned $1.01 per share over the past year, after losing money the year before.
EL Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $3.7B | +6.7% |
| Q2 2026 | $3.6B | +6.3% |
| Q1 2026 | $3.7B | +4.6% |
| Q4 2025 | $4.2B | +5.6% |
| Q3 2025 | $3.5B | +3.6% |
| Q2 2025 | $3.4B | -12% |
| Q1 2025 | $3.6B | -9.9% |
| Q4 2024 | $4B | -6.4% |
EL's revenue is recovering but still below its 2021 peak: $3.7B last quarter, up 6.7% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 11% | +6.1 points |
| Q2 2026 | -1.1% | +10 points |
| Q1 2026 | 6.7% | -1.9 points |
| Q4 2025 | 9.5% | +24 points |
| Q3 2025 | 4.8% | +8.4 points |
| Q2 2025 | -11% | -5.4 points |
| Q1 2025 | 8.6% | -4.9 points |
| Q4 2024 | -14% | -28 points |
EL's operating margin was 11% last quarter, up 6.1 points from the same quarter a year ago.
EL Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$235M | +$201M |
| Q2 2026 | $425M | +7.9% |
| Q1 2026 | $310M | +91% |
| Q4 2025 | $1B | +9.9% |
| Q3 2025 | -$436M | +$375M |
| Q2 2025 | $394M | -41% |
| Q1 2025 | $162M | -55% |
| Q4 2024 | $925M | -17% |
EL usually generates cash, though not every quarter: the latest was −$235M, but it generated $1.5B over the past year.
EL Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +0.4% | +1.3M shares |
| 1 year | +0.8% | +2.8M shares |
| 3 years | +1.6% | +5.6M shares |
| 5 years | -0.5% | -1.8M shares |
| Available history | -0.2% | -600K shares |
EL has 366M diluted shares, up 0.8% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $1M |
| Q2 2026 | — |
| Q1 2026 | $3M |
| Q4 2025 | $58M |
| Q3 2025 | $9M |
| Q2 2025 | — |
| Q1 2025 | — |
| Q4 2024 | $25M |
EL spent $62M buying back its own shares over the past year, up 82% from the year before.
EL Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 2.0x | Healthy |
| Q2 2026 | 2.4x | Moderate |
| Q1 2026 | 3.0x | Moderate |
| Q4 2025 | 3.3x | Elevated |
| Q3 2025 | 15.7x | High |
| Q2 2025 | 99.9x | High |
| Q1 2025 | 23.1x | High |
| Q4 2024 | 10.9x | High |
EL's net debt is about 2.0 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), down from 16 years a year ago.
EL Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 64.6 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 87.2 | Overbought |
EL's weekly RSI is 65 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 87 (overbought).
EL PE vs Consumer Defensive Sector
| Metric | EL | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 109x | 19x | 461% above |
| PE % | 75 | 18 | 57 pts above |
EL is trading at 109x earnings, a 461% premium to the Consumer Defensive sector's median of 19x.
EL Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $103.4 | 6.8% above |
| 20 week MA | $95.7 | 15% above |
| 50 week MA | $94.6 | 17% above |
| 100 week MA | $86.4 | 28% above |
| 200 week MA | $118.3 | 6.6% below |
EL has bounced recently, but its long-term trend is still down: it's above its 8-, 20-, 50- and 100-week averages, but 6.6% below its 200-week average.
EL Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $208.0 | $261.0 | +25% |
| 2021 | $261.0 | $366.0 | +40% |
| 2022 | $366.0 | $241.0 | -34% |
| 2023 | $241.0 | $146.3 | -39% |
| 2024 | $146.3 | $74.6 | -49% |
| 2025 | $74.6 | $107.7 | +44% |
| 2026 YTD | $107.7 | $110.5 | +2.7% |
EL has finished lower in three of the last six years. It's up 2.7% so far in 2026.