The Estée Lauder Companies drew 10 news stories in the 24 hours to 2 November, against a usual 1.4 a day. Reports say it exceeded first-quarter earnings estimates and raised its full-year outlook, prompting a rise in its stock price. The filings show the reason to care: profit is outgrowing sales, with net income up 71.5% on revenue growth of 5.0%.
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts. Latest period shown: FY26 Q4.
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| Period | Revenue growth, TTM YoY | Operating margin (TTM) | FCF margin (TTM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY25 Q1 | -0.3% | 4.9% | 8.6% |
| FY25 Q2 | 0.1% | -2.7% | 7.5% |
| FY25 Q3 | -3.6% | -4.2% | 6.4% |
| FY25 Q4 | -8.2% | -5.5% | 4.7% |
| FY26 Q1 | -6.5% | -3.4% | 7.2% |
| FY26 Q2 | -3.3% | 3.3% | 7.8% |
| FY26 Q3 | 0.3% | 2.9% | 8.7% |
| FY26 Q4 | 5.0% | 5.2% | 8.7% |
Profit is outgrowing sales
More of each dollar of revenue is reaching the bottom line. Net income over the twelve months rose 71.5% to $182.0 million while revenue grew 5.0% to $15.0 billion. The operating margin widened 10.7 percentage points over the same period to 5.2%; the gross margin stood at 75.5%.
Cash is growing faster than profit. Free cash flow rose 96.4% to $1.3 billion over the same twelve months. Operating cash flow was $1.8 billion, up 39.4%; capital spending was $457.0 million, or 3.0% of revenue. The free-cash-flow margin reached 8.7%, up 4.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
Growth itself has accelerated. The twelve-month revenue growth rate of 5.0% is 4.7 percentage points faster than the rate a quarter earlier.
Profit and cash are moving at different speeds. Net income rose 71.5% over the year; free cash flow rose 96.4%. The average diluted share count rose 1.3% over the same period. Reports on 28 October connected the stock's cash-flow valuation to this gap between profit and cash growth.
On 31 October 2026, the company announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to drive enterprise efficiency and consumer-centric growth.
Where The Estée Lauder Companies' figures sit in its own record
The free-cash-flow margin of 8.7% is higher than 42% of the company's past quarterly readings, which have ranged from 4.6% to 18.5%. The operating margin of 5.2% is higher than only 14% of past readings (range −5.5% to 18.4%), placing it in the lower part of that range. Revenue growth of 5.0% is above 52% of past readings (range −12.4% to 25.0%).
The value hinges on margins more than growth
In our model, the valuation is sensitive to the growth rate: growth 5 percentage points lower would reduce the value by 28.8%, and growth 5 percentage points higher would raise it by 37.6%. A free-cash-flow margin 1 percentage point lower would reduce the value by 11.0%.
What the filings cannot tell you at The Estée Lauder Companies
Our figures run to Q4 2026 and come from the company's own filings; they cannot confirm, explain or rule out anything in the reports. The revenue growth and net income figures above bear directly on the earnings beat that drove the coverage, since those are the metrics compared against the analysts' average estimate.