IBKR vs ULTA Comparison

Interactive Brokers is a large, automated, retail and institutional brokerage that boasted nearly $570 billion in customer equity at the end of 2024. The company cut its teeth as a market maker, introducing US financial markets to automated and algorithmic training before expanding into brokerage services in 1993. The firm has a wide-ranging client base, with its best-in-class order execution and extremely low margin lending rates catering to a sophisticated audience of hedge funds, proprietary traders, and introducing brokers that account for about 45% of the firm's commissions. With operations spanning more than 160 electronic exchanges, 36 countries, and 28 currencies, Interactive Brokers caters to a global clientele, with more than 80% of active accounts sitting outside the US market.

With more than 1,400 freestanding stores and 600 Target shop-in-shops, Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the US. The firm offers cosmetics (39% of 2024 sales), fragrances (13%), skin care (23%), and hair care products (19%). It also offers salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow, that account for about 4% of its revenue and drive traffic. In addition, it collects royalties through its Target partnership and credit card revenue. Most standalone Ulta stores are approximately 10,000 square feet and are in suburban strip centers. The firm will soon open franchised stores in Mexico and has formed a joint venture to expand into the Middle East. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.