Estée Lauder Sales Slide 10%, Forecasts Bigger-Than-Expected Drop In Annual Sales

Cosmetics giant Estée Lauder forecast a bigger-than-expected drop in fiscal 2025 sales on Thursday, signalling slowdown in the American market and a longer road to recovery for demand in key China region.

For the last couple of years, Estée has been struggling to revive demand, mainly in China and Asia travel retail as Chinese consumers navigate high unemployment and property downturn. It has also seen demand softening in the American beauty market.

Its woes are further aggravated by US President Donald Trump’s chaotic implementation of tariffs, which are likely to push up costs for major American firms that import their products particularly from China and Europe.

Estée now expects net sales for fiscal 2025 to be down 8 percent to 9 percent, compared with analysts’ estimate of a 7.07 percent fall, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The MAC lipstick maker’s net sales fell 10 percent to $3.55 billion during the period. Analysts on an average estimated a fall of 10.72 percent to $3.52 billion.

Shares of Estée were up 3 percent in premarket trading.

By Ananya Mariam Rajesh; Editor: Shilpi Majumdar

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