ULTA vs KGC Comparison

Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the US with about 1,500 freestanding stores. The firm offers cosmetics (39% of 2024 sales), fragrances (13%), skin care (23%), and hair care products (19%). It also has salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow, that account for about 4% of its revenue and drive traffic. Outside of the US, Ulta acquired premium beauty retailer Space NK and its 83 stores in the UK and Ireland in 2025, is opening franchised stores in Mexico, and has formed a joint venture to expand into the Middle East. In addition, Ulta collects royalties through its Target partnership (set to end in 2026) and credit card revenue. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

Kinross Gold is a Canada-based gold producer, producing roughly 2.1 million gold equivalent ounces in 2024. The company had about a decade of gold reserves at the end of 2024. It operates mines in the Americas and West Africa after selling its low-cost Russian operations in 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Kinross has historically used acquisitions to fuel expansion into new regions and production growth. In 2022, Kinross purchased the Great Bear project in Canada. If developed as we think likely, it could produce an average of more than 500,000 ounces of gold per year for at least a decade, with its unit cash costs likely in the first quartile of the industry cost curve. Though Great Bear's production is likely to be replacement ounces for falling volumes at other mines.