NYSE: ELF · e.l.f. Beauty, Inc.Enhanced Equity Research · Sep 10, 2026
PriceThesisFundamentalsCatalystsEarningsPeersFair ValueValuationTechnicalsConvictionRisksSummary
Equity Research Report
Analysis by Joseph Lefcoe
Enhanced Equity Research — e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (ELF)
JL ResearchBeauty / ConsumerSep 2026

ELF

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. — Enhanced Equity Research
Current Price
$96.82
Market Cap
$5.7B
52-Week High
$150.99
52-Week Low
$48.82
Est. Fair Value
$94
HOLD
PT $92
-5% upside · Medium conviction

1-Year Price & Key Levels

Price 50-DMA 200-DMA Price target
Chart data: Yahoo Finance, as of Sep 10, 2026
$42.77$70.45$98.12$126$153OctJanAprJul Bull $123PT $92Bear $61 $96.82
RSI(14) 47.650-DMA $89.52200-DMA $76.48vs 52w high -35.9%52w range position 47%

Thirty quarters of growth, one engine swap, and a multiple that already knows

e.l.f. has logged 30 consecutive quarters of net sales growth, is number one in US mass cosmetics by units and number two by dollars, and added 60 basis points of share in the June quarter. rhode contributed about $160M of the $479.4M quarter while in under a fifth of Sephora's doors worldwide, and it launches across 19 European Sephora markets on Sep 30; international grew 61% to 21% of sales. But the record quarter carries an asterisk. The 83% gross margin included roughly 1,050 basis points of one-time tariff refunds, so the underlying figure is about 72.5% and about $0.62 of the $1.75 adjusted EPS was refund; management is spending that money on price cuts and marketing rather than banking it, and about three quarters of production still comes out of China at an assumed 35% tariff. At $96.82 the stock trades 27.5x the raised FY27 guide while organic growth is guided at only 6 to 7%, FY28 consensus EPS grows 6%, and the CEO, CFO, CCO and a director have all sold stock since June with no insider buying at the June low. The debate is whether 27x is fair for growth that fades to high single digits once rhode annualises, or whether the Street is underestimating rhode in Europe and the international leg. We initiate at HOLD with a $92 weighted target. Three valuation methods land within a few dollars of the price, which is what a fully valued quality compounder looks like. The better entry is the $88 to $90 earnings-gap zone, not here after a 100% run off the June low.

A record quarter with an asterisk — Q1 FY27 (June 2026 quarter) per the 8-K exhibit filed Aug 5, 2026 and the 10-Q filed Aug 6 (SEC EDGAR); price and technicals from Yahoo Finance, Sep 10, 2026. Net debt, enterprise value and the ex-refund figures are COMPUTED.

Share price
$96.82
−36% from the Sep 2025 high of $150.99 · +98% from the Jun 5 low · −12% in four sessions on a beauty-sector selloff · RSI(14) 47.6
Q1 FY27 net sales
$479.4M
+36% YoY (10-Q); rhode about $160M of it (company-stated); 30th straight quarter of growth
Adjusted EPS
$1.75
Company-stated; about $0.62 of it is the one-time IEEPA refund (COMPUTED) · GAAP diluted EPS $1.12 (10-Q)
Gross margin
83.2%
Includes about 1,050 bps of tariff refunds (company-stated); underlying about 72.5% COMPUTED · FY27 margin guided flat ex-tariff
Adj. EBITDA margin
35%
$168.2M adjusted EBITDA, +93% YoY (company-stated); the refund flows straight through this line
FY27 guide (raised Aug 5)
+18–20%
Net sales $1,938–1,968M, adj. EBITDA $401–407M, adj. EPS $3.50–3.55 on 60.5M shares; organic only 6–7%, rhode about 13 pts
Forward P/E
27.5x
On the $3.525 FY27 guide midpoint (COMPUTED); 26.8x on $3.61 consensus; FY28 consensus $3.83 grows 6%
Net debt / EV
$490M / $6.2B
$834M debt less $344M cash (10-Q) plus an $81M rhode earn-out; EV about 3.2x the FY27 sales guide and 15x guided EBITDA (COMPUTED)

Quarterly Net Sales — SEC EDGAR (10-Q / 10-K), fiscal year ends March 31

$343.9M
Q2 FY26
$489.5M
Q3 FY26
$449.3M
Q4 FY26
$479.4M
Q1 FY27

Core share gains, rhode as the new engine, international as the next leg

+60 bps
Mass cosmetics share gain, Q1 FY27
Number one by unit share, number two by dollars behind Maybelline; bought by about one in three US women; e.l.f. SKIN moved from 25th to 11th in mass skincare (Q1 FY27 call, company-stated)
$160M
rhode net sales in Q1 FY27
In under 20% of Sephora stores globally; a $27M single-day direct-to-consumer record; 19-country Sephora Europe launch on Sep 30, 2026; about 13 points of the FY27 growth guide
+61%
International net sales growth, Q1 FY27
Now 21% of sales across the UK, Canada, Germany and Brazil; Boots UK and Sephora Brazil launches in fall 2026, against only 6–7% organic growth guided for the year
Sep 25, 2026
Class-certification opposition due
Defendants' opposition to class certification in the consolidated N.D. Cal. securities action (class period Nov 1, 2023 to Nov 19, 2024), which survived a motion to dismiss on the Nov 21, 2024 statement. Four derivative suits are stayed behind it (10-Q).
Sep 30, 2026
rhode launches at Sephora in 19 European countries
Online and most stores across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and 14 more, with core skincare, blush and the new Pocket Bronze and Highlight Milk collections (press release, Aug 31, 2026). The pipeline fill lands in Q2.
Nov 4, 2026
Q2 FY27 results, after the close
Management guided Q2 net sales growth in the mid-30s including the rhode Europe fill. Watch underlying gross margin without the refund, whether the price rollback on about 10% of SKUs lifts units, and whether the Q2 EPS consensus, already cut from $0.67 to $0.62, holds.
Holiday FY27
Price rollback plus reinvested tariff refund
About $58.5M of total refunds expected (Supply Chain Dive) are being spent on lower prices and marketing through Q2 to Q4; balance-of-year organic growth is implied at 10–12%. The administration's appeal of the CIT tariff order has no timetable and the 10-Q calls the outcome uncertain.
May 2027
Q4 FY27 print and the initial FY28 guide
The test of the multiple: rhode annualised out of the base in August 2026, so FY28 growth must come from organic, international and rhode Europe. Consensus FY28 EPS of $3.83 (+6%) is what the stock is being asked to grow into at 27x.

Forward Estimates, Surprises & Insider Activity

Forward Earnings Estimates

FY+1 EPS Consensus$3.61 adjusted (FY27 to Mar 2027; StockAnalysis consensus, range $3.53–$3.80) vs the company guide of $3.50–$3.55 — the Street already sits above the top of guidance
FY+2 EPS Consensus$3.83 adjusted (FY28; StockAnalysis, +6%). Our base case is $3.95. Growth decelerates once the one-time refund and the rhode acquisition lap
PEG Ratio3.24 (MarketBeat); about 4.5x on FY28 growth of 6% (COMPUTED)
Forward P/E27.5x on the FY27 guide midpoint and 26.8x on the $3.61 consensus at $96.82 (COMPUTED); 25.3x FY28 consensus
EPS Revisions (90d)↑9 ↓1 (Up since the print: FY27 consensus moved from $3.12 pre-print to $3.31 (Zacks, Aug 6) to $3.61 now, though Q2 FY27 consensus was cut from $0.67 to $0.62 with six of nine revisions down (Zacks), and Zacks rates revisions mixed)
Guidance AccuracyConservative guide, then beat. The Nov 2025 FY26 guide of $2.80–$2.85 sat far below the $3.58 Street and crushed the stock; FY26 actual adjusted EPS was $3.13, above the guide. The initial FY27 guide on May 20, 2026 ($3.27–$3.32, sales +12–14%) landed below the $3.61 consensus, built on a roughly 55% tariff rate and walking back part of the Aug 2025 $1 price increase, and sent the stock to the $48.82 low. The Aug 5 raise to $3.50–$3.55 (sales +18–20%) rests on rhode outperformance plus about $50M of IEEPA refunds that are being reinvested. Four straight adjusted-EPS beats, but the print-day reaction has tracked the guide, not the beat

Earnings Surprise Track Record

Q2 FY26 (Sep 2025, reported Nov 5, 2025) Est: $0.57 Act: $0.68 +19.3%
Q3 FY26 (Dec 2025, reported Feb 4, 2026) Est: $0.72 Act: $1.24 +72.2%
Q4 FY26 (Mar 2026, reported May 20, 2026) Est: $0.29 Act: $0.32 +10.3%
Q1 FY27 (Jun 2026, reported Aug 5, 2026) Est: $0.71 Act: $1.75 +146.5%
Beat Rate4 of 4 (100%) on adjusted EPS; revenue beat in 3 of 4 (Q2 FY26 missed). GAAP diluted EPS per SEC EDGAR: $0.05, $0.65, −$0.82, $1.12 — the swings are rhode earn-out marks, not operations.

Insider Activity (90 Days)

Net Buying/SellingNet selling: about 217K shares sold for about $14.4M by seven insiders since Jun 1, 2026; zero open-market purchases. All Form 4s in the window were read from EDGAR
Sell/Buy Ratio217K sold : 0 bought. CEO Tarang Amin about 96K shares for about $6.3M (Jun 4–9 at about $52, Jul 1 at $73–79 after a 50,164-share option exercise at $26.84; a further 71,000-share exercise reported Sep 3; 20,836 shares gifted Sep 1); CCO Jennifer Hartnett about 40K for $2.8M; CFO Kory Marchisotto about 25K for $1.7M (Aug 4 at $88); SVP Operations Joshua Franks about 22K for $1.7M (Sep 1 and Sep 8 at $110); Mandy Fields, Scott Milsten and director Lauren Cooks Levitan the rest
Negative to neutral. The Jun 4 and Jun 9 blocks across six executives at identical prices look like sell-to-cover on the Jun 3 RSU grants (42,315 shares each, 71,167 for the CEO). The July to September sales are pre-scheduled: Amin's Jul 1 sale was marked Rule 10b5-1 and Franks' September sales were under a plan adopted Mar 3, 2026. Plans adopted near $60 in March that fire at $110 are mechanical diversification rather than a signal, but no insider bought at the $48.82 June low, and the CFO's sale the day before the beat-and-raise is a poor optic. The company itself repurchased $50M in Q1 at an average $55.53 with $350M of authorisation left (10-Q).
No insider open-market purchase found in the last 12 months. Directors received annual equity grants on Aug 20 (nine Form 4s, no sales). CEO's Sep 3 filing moved 20,836 shares between family vehicles at $0. Company buyback: $50M in Q1 FY27, $350M remaining.

Relative Valuation vs. Competitors

CompanyP/E (fwd)EV/RevRev GrowthGross Margin
e.l.f. Beauty27.5x3.2x+36% (Q1 FY27)83% reported / ~72.5% underlying
Estée Lauder29.6x2.7x+5.0% (TTM)75.5%
Ulta Beauty17.8x2.0x+11.2% (TTM)43.1%
Inter Parfums22.6x2.4x+2.9% (TTM)58.4%
Coty8.2x0.9x−1.5% (TTM)62.9%
Peer multiples from StockAnalysis statistics pages, Sep 10, 2026; peer revenue growth is trailing twelve months, ELF's is the June quarter. ELF's 27.5x forward P/E (on its own FY27 guide, COMPUTED from SEC figures) sits just below Estée Lauder's 29.6x, but Estée Lauder is a turnaround growing 5% while ELF grew 36% and guides 18–20%. On EV to sales ELF is the richest of the group at about 3.2x. Ulta at 17.8x is the value option, and the channel rather than a brand. The premium is earned on growth; the question is what it looks like when growth is 6–7% organic.

Worth about what it trades for: three methods land between $92 and $95 — independent of where the stock trades

MethodImplied Value / ShareWeightBasis
P/E on FY28 earnings$9540%Our FY28 adjusted EPS of $3.95 (above the $3.83 consensus, giving rhode Europe and international some credit) at 24x. That is a premium to Ulta at 18x and a discount to Estée Lauder at 30x, and it is what a mid-teens grower with 35% EBITDA margins and a class action in the background deserves once the refund is out of the base.
EV / EBITDA on FY28$9230%FY28 adjusted EBITDA of about $440M (FY27 guide midpoint $404M grown 9%) at 14x = $6.16B EV, less $571M of net debt including the $81M rhode earn-out, over 60.5M guided diluted shares = $92.
Free-cash-flow yield$9530%FY27 free cash flow of about $230M COMPUTED (guided EBITDA less roughly $30M interest, $70M cash tax, $25M capex and working capital) capitalised at a 4% yield = $5.75B of equity, or $95 a share. Q1's $110M of FCF included $51M of refund and is not a run rate.
Blended estimate$94100%−3% vs. the $96.82 price — a fully valued quality compounder

Reading it

All three methods say the stock is worth the mid-90s, which is where it trades, and none of them needs the refund to repeat. That is the whole HOLD argument: the raised guide is real, the share gains are real, and the market has already paid for them. The upside case needs FY28 to grow faster than 6%, which rhode Europe and international could deliver, and the downside case needs a tariff clawback or a volume miss against the price rollback. Neither is visible at $96.82; both become interesting at $88 to $90, the Aug 5 earnings-gap zone where the 50-day average now sits.

Shared inputs

Shares59.0M issued at Jul 30, 2026 (10-Q cover); 59.7M weighted diluted in Q1; company guides 60.5M diluted for FY27. Market cap $5.7B on issued shares, COMPUTED.
Net debt$490M COMPUTED: $834.2M total debt ($30M current, $802M long-term) less $344.2M cash at Jun 30, 2026 (10-Q). Plus $80.8M of rhode contingent consideration (maximum $200M) gives $571M.
Enterprise valueAbout $6.2B at $96.82, or $6.3B including the earn-out — 3.2x the FY27 sales guide midpoint, 15x guided adjusted EBITDA, 3.5x trailing four-quarter sales of $1.76B (COMPUTED).
FY28 assumptions usedRevenue about $2.17B (+11%), adjusted EBITDA about $440M, adjusted EPS $3.95 vs $3.83 consensus.

Price Targets & Scenarios

ScenarioPrice TargetAssumptionsProbability
rhode Europe and international carry FY28$123rhode's Sephora Europe launch and the Boots and Sephora Brazil rollouts push FY28 revenue growth to the mid-teens with adjusted EPS of about $4.40, tariffs stay at or below the assumed 35% and the refund is never clawed back. The multiple holds at 28x, which is Canaccord's $123.25%
Guide met, growth settles at low double digits$95FY27 lands inside the raised guide, FY28 grows revenue about 11% with adjusted EPS of about $3.95, underlying gross margin holds near 72% and the price rollback recovers units without expanding margin. 24x forward, cross-checked at 14x EBITDA and a 4% FCF yield.45%
Refund clawed back, volumes stay soft$61The Federal Circuit reverses the CIT tariff ruling and the refund reverses, units keep falling after the price increase laps, organic growth stalls at low single digits as Jefferies expects, and FY28 EPS lands near $3.40. The multiple compresses to 18x, near Ulta's, with beta of 2.4 doing the rest.30%

Probability-Weighted Target: $92 (-5% vs. $96.82)

$92
Weighted
Bull $12325%
Base $9545%
Bear $6130%

Analyst Consensus

Canaccord Genuity
$123
Raised from $110, Buy maintained · Aug 27, 2026 — notes e.l.f. rolled back most of the May–June price investments
JPMorgan
$106
Cut from $111, Overweight maintained · Aug 19, 2026 — the only target cut since the Q1 print
TD Cowen
$110
Raised from $85, Buy reiterated · Aug 10, 2026
Piper Sandler
$65
Raised from $50, Neutral kept · Aug 6, 2026 — Street low; demand-sustainability and volume concerns after the price increase laps
12 Buy · 5 Hold · 1 Sell — Eighteen analysts, Moderate Buy (MarketBeat: 2 Strong Buy, 10 Buy, 5 Hold, 1 Sell), but the average target of $92–99 (MarketBeat $92.13, StockAnalysis $98.56, range $59–$123) sits at or below the price, so the Street's own numbers see no upside after the August rally. Nine targets were raised and one cut since the Aug 5 print.

Key Levels & Options Intelligence

S/RSupport & Resistance

52-week high (Sep 18, 2025 close $146.67)
$150.99
Sep 4 close, before the sector selloff
$109.67
Resistance (AltIndex) / Sep 8 close $103.76
$109.05
$100 round number, lost Sep 9 (close $100.08)
$100.00
Current price
$96.82
Support (Investtech); a break is a negative signal
$95.00
Aug 5–6 earnings gap top (Aug 6 close)
$92.31
50-DMA
$89.52
Aug 5 close, earnings gap bottom
$86.37
200-DMA
$76.48
52-week low (Jun 5, 2026 close $49.57)
$48.82

OptOptions & Sentiment

  • Short interest: 4.19M shares, 7.35% of float, down 47.8% from 7.64M on Jul 15 (MarketBeat, Aug 14 settlement); Yahoo shows 8.36% of float
  • Days to cover: 1.3 days on 2.72M average volume (MarketBeat); short ratio 1.62 (Yahoo). Squeeze risk is low
  • Implied volatility (30d): 52.0% mean (calls 53.7%, puts 50.2%) vs 48.2% realised (AlphaQuery, Sep 9) — options price a roughly 15% one-month move
  • Put/call IV skew: 0.935 — puts priced below calls, no crash premium (AlphaQuery, Sep 9)
  • IV rank / put-call volume: Not sourced
  • Upcoming expiries and events: Sep 18 and Oct 16 monthlies; class-cert opposition Sep 25; rhode Sephora Europe Sep 30; Q2 FY27 print Nov 4
  • Beta: 2.39 (Yahoo) — sector de-ratings hit ELF hardest, as the Sep 8–10 tape showed
  • Borrow: Not sourced; at 7–8% of float and 1.3 days to cover it is not a crowded short

Systematic Conviction Score: 53/100 (Medium)

55
Analyst Alignment
30%
55
FCF Visibility
25%
65
Catalyst Clarity
20%
30
Valuation Safety
15%
50
Mgmt Quality
10%
Weighted 0.30 analyst, 0.25 FCF, 0.20 catalyst, 0.15 valuation, 0.10 management. Analyst alignment 55: 12 Buy, 5 Hold, 1 Sell, but the average target sits at or below the price and the range runs $59 to $123. FCF visibility 55: Q1's $110M of free cash flow carried $51M of refund, gross debt is $834M with the revolver drawn and an $81M earn-out outstanding, though $350M of buyback remains. Catalyst clarity 65: rhode Sephora Europe on Sep 30, the class-cert filing on Sep 25 and the Nov 4 print are all dated; the tariff appeal is not. Valuation safety 30: 27.5x forward and a PEG above 2 for 6–7% organic growth, though the multiple has already compressed by more than half from the peak so the downside is to about 18–20x, not to zero. Management 50: consistent share gains and a sensible refund-reinvestment plan, offset by heavy scheduled insider selling, a class action that survived dismissal, and earn-out volatility. A score of 53 is Medium, which for a HOLD means the business is good and the price is full.

Risk Assessment & Insider Signals

OOwnership & Insider Signals

  • Institutional ownership 92–99% of shares: Yahoo shows 98.8% institutional and 2.9% insider; Fintel reports 92.4% institutional as of the Q1 2026 13F round; TipRanks splits it as mutual funds 29.0%, ETFs 19.4%, other institutions 28.6%, retail 19.6%. Yahoo's 21.9M float figure conflicts with 59.0M shares out and about 3% insider ownership and looks wrong; the true float is not sourced.
  • Baillie Gifford is the largest holder, about 12%, and trimming: About 7.05M shares after selling 139,253 (−1.9%) around Jun 30, 2026 (GuruFocus, MarketBeat); 7.05M on 59.0M shares is about 12% COMPUTED. Other top holders per Fintel: Vanguard, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, State Street, ClearBridge, Swedbank, Ensign Peak, Ilex Capital, Morgan Stanley.
  • Passive core: Vanguard about 8.9%, iShares 5.5%: TipRanks: Vanguard 5.24M shares (8.9%), Vanguard Index Funds 4.44M (7.5%), iShares 3.25M (5.5%), Smallcap World Fund 2.71M (4.6%). Fintel cites BlackRock about 9.3% on a different basis. Capital World Investors about 1.1%.
  • 2026 13F moves: Goldman added, growth managers trimmed: Goldman Sachs added 1.22M shares (+175%) in Q2 2026 (HedgeFollow). Baillie Gifford trimmed in Q1 and Q2 2026. William Blair cut 85.8% and Champlain 9.5% in Q3 2025 (MarketBeat). Several large holders disclosed initiations in the May 2026 13F round.
  • CEO holds about 1.9M shares across direct and family vehicles: GuruFocus: Tarang Amin held 996,797 shares directly at Jul 1, 2026 plus 499,290 via Amin Family GP, 265,769 via a family trust, and about 121K in 2025 GRATs and family trusts. Insider ownership 2.9–3.4% (Yahoo, TipRanks). Proxy group-ownership table not retrieved.
  • Index membership: S&P MidCap 400 and Russell 1000: Joined the S&P MidCap 400 on Jan 23, 2024; also a Russell 1000 constituent. At a $5.7B cap it is not an S&P 500 candidate near term, and MidCap 400 index funds anchor the ETF slice of ownership.

Quantified Risk Assessment

Severity Risk Factor Prob. PT Impact
High China sourcing, a 35% tariff run-rate, and refund reversal
About 75% of production is in China. The Q1 FY27 10-Q shows $60.3M of IEEPA duties paid, $51.1M refunded plus $2.1M of interest, and says the outcome of the administration's appeal of the Court of International Trade order remains uncertain. Management is reinvesting the refund in price cuts and marketing, so a clawback would hit both the P&L and the pricing strategy. Underlying gross margin is about 72.5% ex-refund and FY27 margin is guided flat ex-tariff.
30% -12%
High Growth deceleration once rhode annualises, against a 27x multiple
The FY27 organic guide is only 6–7% (10–12% implied for the remaining quarters); rhode is about 13 points of the 18–20% headline. Jefferies called the May guide a growth reset with core consumption in the low single digits and cut its target to $70. Consensus FY28 EPS grows 6% yet the stock trades 27.5x forward; Zacks PEG 2.27 vs 0.81 for the industry (Jul 23).
45% -20%
Medium rhode: earn-out, retail-mix margin drag, and Hailey Bieber key-person risk
The FY26 10-K names Hailey Bieber as a dependency. The earn-out liability is $80.8M at Jun 30, 2026 (up $16.1M in Q1) against a $200M maximum; the $57.6M FY26 charge collapsed GAAP operating margin. Total debt is $834.2M with $256.7M drawn on the revolver (10-Q). rhode's move into Sephora Europe dilutes gross margin through retail mix, which is why FY27 margin is guided flat ex-tariff.
25% -10%
Medium Price rollbacks and soft mass-consumer units
Unit volumes fell about 3 points in Q1 FY27 after the 2025 $1 price increase; management is permanently cutting prices on about 10% of SKUs (skin tints from $18 to $14) and betting on volume (Q1 call). Piper Sandler flagged the volume risk when the price increase laps in August and under-performing spring innovation. Q2 FY27 consensus EPS was cut from $0.67 to $0.62 with six of nine revisions down (Zacks).
35% -10%
Medium Competition and sector multiple compression
L'Oréal (Maybelline, NYX) and Coty (CoverGirl) compete on scale and shelf; e.l.f. is number two in US mass cosmetics behind Maybelline. TikTok Shop and dupes of dupes lower switching costs. On Sep 8 ELF fell 5.4% with Coty −7.5% and BellRing −5.1% in a household and personal-products selloff with no company news, and it kept falling to $96.82. Beta is 2.39, so sector de-ratings hit ELF hardest.
40% -8%
Low Insider selling and a securities class action that survived dismissal
Seven insiders sold about 217K shares for about $14.4M since Jun 1, 2026 with zero open-market buys (Form 4s); the CFO sold about 25K at $88 the day before the beat-and-raise. The consolidated N.D. Cal. class action (class period Nov 1, 2023 to Nov 19, 2024) survived a motion to dismiss on the Nov 21, 2024 statement, the day of the Muddy Waters rebuttal; class certification was moved Jul 24 and the opposition is due Sep 25, 2026; four derivative suits are stayed (10-Q). No 2026 update from Muddy Waters was found.
20% -5%

Summary

Rating
HOLD
Conviction
Medium
Price Target
$92
Timeframe
6–9 months — the Nov 4 print and the May 2027 FY28 guide decide whether the multiple is earned
Upside
-5%
Position Size
1–2% of portfolio at full build; 0% added at current prices · beta 2.4, so size it as a high-beta consumer name

Entry Strategy

1
Tranche 1 — 0% (no new money here)
$96.82 (today)
The stock is 98% off its June low, 27.5x a guide the Street already sits above, and in a four-day sector drawdown with $95 support under test. Existing holders keep the position; the setup asks for patience, not a purchase.
2
Tranche 2 — 50% of an intended position
$89
The 50-day average and the Aug 5–6 earnings gap ($86.37 to $92.31). At $89 the stock is 25x the FY27 guide and 22.5x our FY28 EPS, with the raised guide intact. Buy here only if the Sep 30 rhode Europe launch and the Sep 25 class-cert filing have passed without incident.
3
Tranche 3 — 50%
$78
The 200-day average, about 2.6x sales and 20x FY28 EPS, which is roughly where Estée Lauder trades on growth a fifth as fast. This tranche only prints on a sector de-rating or a refund clawback; if the trigger is a Q2 revenue miss instead, reassess rather than buy.
DATA PROVENANCE: Figures as of Sep 10, 2026. Next catalyst: Q2 FY27 earnings — Nov 4, 2026 after the close (TipRanks lists it as confirmed, MarketBeat as estimated; prior year was Nov 5). Street looks for about $0.62–0.67 adjusted EPS on about $436M of sales. Before that: rhode launches at Sephora in 19 European countries on Sep 30, and the defendants' opposition to class certification in the N.D. Cal. securities case is due Sep 25. Primary sources: SEC EDGAR 10-Q/10-K, 8-K and Form 4 filings (CIK 0001600033) · Yahoo Finance quote and history · e.l.f. Beauty Q1 FY27 results, 8-K exhibit 99.1 filed Aug 5, 2026 (SEC EDGAR) · e.l.f. Beauty Q1 FY27 earnings call transcript (Motley Fool, Aug 12, 2026). Hard figures are sourced from the filings above; targets and ratings are interpretation, not a guarantee.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Research note, not financial advice. Hard figures are from SEC EDGAR (CIK 0001600033: 8-K exhibit 99.1 of Aug 5, 2026; 10-Q filed Aug 6, 2026; 10-K for FY2026 filed May 21, 2026; Form 4 filings through Sep 9, 2026) and Yahoo Finance as of Sep 10, 2026. e.l.f.'s fiscal year ends March 31; the Q4 FY26 quarter is derived from the 10-K. Net debt ($490M), enterprise value, the underlying gross margin ex-refund (about 72.5%), the refund's EPS contribution (about $0.62), forward multiples and FY28 estimates are COMPUTED or ESTIMATES and labeled as such. Adjusted (non-GAAP) figures, segment contributions, share data and guidance are company-stated from the Q1 release and call. Consensus estimates, peer multiples, short interest, options data and ownership figures are from third parties (StockAnalysis, MarketBeat, Fintel, TipRanks, GuruFocus, AlphaQuery, Investtech) and dated where cited. UNVERIFIED: the Q2 FY27 earnings date (not yet announced by the company), Yahoo's float figure, and the true float. Scenario and risk probabilities are analyst estimates.