ULTA vs TROW 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.

T. Rowe Price provides asset management services for individual and institutional investors. It offers a broad range of no-load US and international stock, hybrid, bond, and money market funds. At the end of 2025, the firm had $1.776 trillion in managed assets, composed of equity (49%), balanced (36%), fixed-income and money market (12%), and alternative (3%) offerings. Approximately two-thirds of managed assets are held in retirement-based accounts, which provides T. Rowe Price with a somewhat stickier client base than most of its peers. The firm also manages private accounts, provides retirement planning advice, and offers discount brokerage and trust services. The company is primarily a US-based asset manager, deriving less than 10% of its AUM from overseas.