20% Downside For Estee Lauder Stock?

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Trefis
EL: Estee Lauder logo
EL
Estee Lauder

Estee Lauder stock (NYSE: EL) is up 19% since the beginning of this year, and at the current price of around $246 per share, we believe that EL stock has around 20% potential downside.

Why is that? Our belief stems from the fact that EL stock is still up around 70% from the low seen in March. Further, after posting weak Q1 ’21 numbers, it’s clear that EL did not benefit from the pandemic, and that makeup and fragrance demand will take longer to rise to pre-Covid levels. Our dashboard Buy Or Sell Estee Lauder Stock? provides the key numbers behind our thinking, and we explain more below.

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EL stock’s rise since late 2017 came due to a 4% rise in revenues. However, a rise in cost of sales and operating expenses meant that net margins dropped by 41% between 2018 and 2020 (EL’s fiscal year ends in June). This meant that EPS came in at $1.90 in 2020 vs $3.01 in 2018, a 37% decrease.

Estee Lauder’s P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio rose from 42x in 2017 to 109x in 2019, as a drop in EPS did not lead to an equivalent drop in share price, as expectations of a jump in demand rose. The P/E multiple has since risen to 130x, but given Estee Lauder’s weak Q1 2021 results, there is possible downside risk for EL’s multiple.

So what’s the likely trigger and timing to this downside?

The global spread of Coronavirus and the resulting lockdowns have hurt demand for beauty products. With people not stepping out, makeup and fragrance products have seen a drop in demand. However, demand for hair and skin care products hasn’t taken as bad a hit, but the combined effect of these two factors is evident from Estee Lauder’s Q1 2021 earnings. Revenue came in at $3.56 billion, down from $3.9 billion for the same period in 2020. Rising operating expenses and a slightly higher effective tax rate, meant that EPS took a hit, dropping to $1.44 vs $1.65 in Q1 2020.

Despite the economy opening up, it’s likely that work-from-home will become the new norm, and makeup and fragrance demand could struggle to get back to pre-Covid levels, at least in the medium term.

Regardless, if there isn’t evidence of containment of the virus anytime soon, we believe the stock will see its P/E multiple decline from the current level of 130x to around 110x, which combined with a reduction in revenues and margins could result in the stock price shrinking to as low as $195, a downside of around 20% from the current price of $246.

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