ULTA vs STE Comparison

Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the US with more than 1,500 freestanding stores. The firm offers cosmetics (38% of 2025 sales), fragrances (13%), skin care (24%), and hair care products (19%). It also has salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow, that account for 4% of its revenue and drive customer traffic. Outside of the US, Ulta operates premium beauty retailer Space NK (86 stores at year-end 2025 in the UK and Ireland) and has franchised stores in Mexico, and a joint venture in the Middle East. In addition, Ulta collects royalties through its Target partnership (ending in summer 2026) and credit card revenue. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

Steris is an Ireland-domiciled medical technology company focused on sterilization services and infection prevention. The company is the global leader in contract sterilization services, ensuring the safe delivery of single-use and implantable medical equipment to hospitals around the world. Steris also sells sterilizers, washer-disinfectors, and other decontamination equipment and supplies for use by care provider facilities and in biopharma manufacturing sites. Domiciled in the United States before its inversion to Ireland, the firm derives approximately 70% of its revenue from Healthcare Services, 19% from Applied Sterilization Technologies, or AST, and 11% from life sciences services after the divestment of its dental products business.