Estée Lauder outperforms on Wall Street, buoyed by analyst upgrade

Published: 2026-05-18 02:29:35 ET EL

Estée Lauder shares outperformed the US stock market on Friday following an "Overweight" initiation by analysts at Piper Sandler, who highlighted the gaining momentum of the cosmetics group's operational turnaround.

Sebastien Foll

Published on 05/18/2026 at 02:29 am EDT

The broker, which set its target price for the share at $95, noted that three of the company's four primary business segments generated organic growth over the past quarter, with stabilization in the Americas region accompanied by market share gains across all product categories.It added that the guidance provided for FY 2026/2027 suggests a continued inflection in top-line revenue.Valuation accounts for the Puig scenarioRegarding the possibility of a tie-up with Spain's Puig, Piper Sandler acknowledged that such a transaction could complicate the business recovery, despite the benefits it offers in terms of diversification and profitability. However, the firm believes these concerns are already reflected in the stock's valuation, which is currently trading at a 2027 EV/Ebitda multiple of 12x, compared to 16x over the past two years.The stock limited its decline to 0.7% at $80.3, bringing its year-to-date losses to about 24% for a market capitalization of $29bn. At the same time, the S&P 500 index was down 1.2%.