L’Oréal S.A. shares fell more than 6% on Wednesday after the French beauty group reported third-quarter 2025 sales growth below market expectations.
The company posted organic sales growth (OSG) of 4.2% for the quarter, compared with a consensus forecast of 4.7%. On an underlying basis, excluding phasing effects, growth reached 4.9%.
“While this represents an acceleration vs H1 25, it obviously fell short of consensus sellside expectations, as well as those of the buyside,” said analysts at Morgan Stanley in a note.
By division, Professional Products was the standout performer, rising 9.3% against a 5.2% consensus.
Consumer Products increased 3.8% compared with expectations of 5.3%, while L’Oréal Luxe rose 2.5% versus 3.2%.
Dermatological Beauty advanced 5.1%, short of the 7.7% projection. Overall sales totaled €10.33 billion, 1.1% below the €10.45 billion consensus estimate.
Geographically, the United States was the weakest region. North America posted like-for-like growth of 1.4%, trailing the 3.1% forecast, while scanner data earlier in the quarter had shown stronger retail sell-out.
Morgan Stanley said, “The gap between US sell-out (+6%) and sell-in (+3.8%) raised questions about inventory.”
In contrast, Europe exceeded expectations with 4.1% growth against 3.2%, and North Asia grew 4.7%, ahead of the 2.9% estimate.
L’Oréal also maintained its momentum in mainland China, where the market grew about 3% in the third quarter after being flat in the first half.
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