BIO-TECHNE Corp vs Ulta Beauty Inc — how do they compare? BIO-TECHNE Corp trades at $72.39 (market cap $11.34B), while Ulta Beauty Inc trades at $542.26 (market cap $24.12B). The key difference: Ulta Beauty Inc is far larger — about 2.1× BIO-TECHNE Corp's market cap, and BIO-TECHNE Corp pays a 0.44% dividend while Ulta Beauty Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| TECH | ULTA | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $11.34B | $24.12B |
Sector | Health | Consumer Cyclical |
52-Week High | $72.48 | $706.82 |
52-Week Low | $43.31 | $450.75 |
Enterprise Value | $11.36B | $26.43B |
Dividend Yield | 0.44% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Bio-Techne (TECH) trades at $72.31, down 0.17% on the day, with a neutral technical signal and mixed earnings history. The stock is near the consensus price target of $71.86, with a pending acquisition by Merck KGaA at $73.00 per share. Recent Q4 2026 revenue beat estimates, but net income margin compression from 25.09% in 2023 to 14.96% in 2026 highlights profitability challenges. Operating cash flow remains stable around $290M, supporting dividend payments.
The outlook is balanced, with upside capped by the acquisition offer but supported by solid cash flow and analyst hold ratings. Risks include shareholder litigation and integration uncertainties post-acquisition. Earnings growth in diagnostics and spatial biology segments is a key catalyst, though high P/E of 62.33 suggests elevated expectations.
ULTA Beauty trades at $549.23, down 2.64% today, amid mixed signals. The stock shows a bullish technical trend with strong moving averages, while fundamentals reveal steady revenue growth to $11.30B in 2025, though net income margin has softened to 9.34%. Recent Q2 2026 earnings beat expectations, and the company raised full-year guidance, yet some segments like cosmetics showed flat performance.
The outlook is cautiously optimistic, with a consensus price target of $653.14 implying significant upside. Key opportunities include digital growth and AI integration potential, but risks involve competitive pressures and reliance on discretionary consumer spending. Analyst sentiment remains predominantly bullish, supporting a favorable risk-reward profile for long-term investors.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Based in Minnesota, Bio-Techne is a life sciences manufacturer supplying consumables and instruments for the pharma, biotech, academic, and diagnostic markets. The company reports in two segments, protein sciences (75% of revenue), and diagnostics and genomics (25%). The protein-focused segment makes equipment and associated consumables for protein characterization and analysis and sells antibodies for research and clinical purposes. In diagnostics, Bio-Techne provides controls and calibrators for diagnostic manufacturers and has a portfolio of diagnostic oncology assays. The United States accounts for about 55% of revenue, and the firm also has operations in EMEA (20% of sales), the U.K. (5%), and APAC (15%), with the rest of the world accounting for the remaining 5%.
Read more on TECH →With more than 1,300 stores and a partnership with Target, Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the U.S. The firm offers makeup (43% of 2021 sales), fragrances, skin care, and hair care products (20% of 2021 sales), and bath and body items. Ulta offers private-label products and merchandise from more than 500 vendors. It also offers salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow services, in all stores. Most Ulta stores are approximately 10,000 square feet and are in suburban strip centers. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
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