Is the business good?
How good a business is EL?
Estée Lauder Companies (The) earns 4.4% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
4.4%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 4.6 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 2.9%
Operating margin · Household & Personal Products median 15% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- Share count, year on year
- +1.1%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
- Gross margin
- 75%
Gross margin
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 4.2% |
| FY2021 | 16% |
| FY2022 | 18% |
| FY2023 | 9.5% |
| FY2024 | 6.2% |
| FY2025 | −5.5% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 75%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 2.9%
- Free cash flow margin
- 8.7%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $14.8B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $1.28B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 4.4%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Household & Personal Products
Ranks #3 of 13 by Smart Score