L’Oréal (2024): €43.5B revenue / €8.7B operating profit – both all-time highs
-Broad product and geographic portfolio supporting resilience
-2024 revenue by region: Europe (32%), North America (27%), North Asia incl. China (24%), South Asia/Middle East/Africa (9%), Latin America (8%)
-North Asia sales fell 3.4% YoY, but global diversification fueled overall growth
Estée Lauder (2024): $15.6B revenue / Returned to operating loss
-80% of portfolio in luxury
-Heavy reliance on China (~1/3 of total revenue), now declining
Opinion
L’Oréal’s broad-based growth highlights the power of a diversified portfolio and innovation, even in a downturn. In contrast, Estée Lauder’s overreliance on premium brands and a single market has exposed structural weaknesses, amplifying the drag from softening demand in China.
Core Sell Point
Business models concentrated in a single product tier or region are increasingly vulnerable to shifts in global demand. Investors should prioritize companies with diversified revenue streams to better navigate market volatility.
The latest earnings from the world’s top beauty houses reveal a widening performance gap. L’Oréal just posted record-breaking results, while Estée Lauder slipped into an operating loss, reflecting stark differences in product strategy and geographic diversification.
L’Oréal’s balanced portfolio across luxury, consumer, and dermocosmetics segments helped it deliver its best year ever in 2024, with €43.5 billion in revenue and €8.7 billion in operating profit. Growth was particularly strong in its consumer (+5%) and dermocosmetics (+9%) divisions, which helped offset slower sales in Asia.
In contrast, Estée Lauder is facing mounting challenges. With 80% of its portfolio concentrated in luxury and roughly a third of its sales tied to China, the company struggled amid weakened Chinese demand. Full-year sales fell by $2.1 billion YoY to $15.6 billion, and the company swung from profit to loss.
While L’Oréal has leveraged steady demand in Europe and the U.S., along with investments in beauty tech, Estée Lauder has yet to replace its past blockbuster products like the “brown bottle” serum that once drove duty-free sales. Without a diversified product mix or a more balanced regional footprint, market sentiment suggests Estée Lauder’s recovery may be slow and uncertain.
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