ELF Beauty is really excited about Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s line of lip tints and glazing face creams. The beauty brand was mentioned 52 times — nearly every minute — during ELF’s 2026 second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, according to an AlphaSense transcript analysis.
The earnings period was the first since ELF’s acquisition of Rhode. In August, ELF purchased the beauty line in a deal that could be worth as much as $1 billion if the brand hits its performance goals.
The company has good reason to be enthusiastic: Rhode brought in $110 million in net sales during the quarter — more than the $103 million it logged in the entire first half of the calendar year. That is partly a result of Rhode’s September launch in Sephora’s North American stores, which was the biggest release in the retailer’s history in the region.
“I’ve been in the consumer space 34 years and continue to be blown away by what Hailey and her team are building,” ELF Beauty CEO Tarang Amin said on the call.
ELF expects Rhode to grow 40% during its current fiscal year, bringing in a total of $300 million in revenue, although only $200 million of that will be post-acquisition and a line item on ELF’s balance sheet.
Despite ELF’s enthusiasm for Rhode, some analysts aren’t so sure it’s enough to help the beauty giant.
ELF’s stock was down 35% during trading on Thursday after its full-year guidance fell below analyst expectations.
“We and probably a few others are just trying to understand why there’s not a bigger benefit from Rhode,” Peter Grom, a UBS analyst, asked about the company’s weaker profit outlook on the earnings call.
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In a note published Thursday, UBS analysts said “investors were particularly perplexed” by the guidance.
One of Rhode’s strongest financial attributes was its EBITDA margin — a measure of profitability — which exceeded 30% before the acquisition. That’s compared to ELF’s 2025 fiscal EBITDA margin of 23%.
But Rhode still needs investment, ELF’s financial chief Mandy Fields said on the call, including increased spending in marketing and personnel.
That’s not enough to dull Rhode’s gloss, though.
The final words Fields spoke on the call were, of course, about the brand.
Rhode “is really a fantastic brand,” she said. “We’re so happy to have them as part of the e.l.f. family and look forward to continuing to drive that growth on the road ahead.”
