A class action lawsuit has been filed against The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of everyone who purchased or otherwise acquired Estee common stock between August 18, 2022 and May 2, 2023.
 
Investors have until February 5, 2024 to apply to the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.

About the Filed Complaint

The complaint filed by Bragar Eagel & Squire alleges that defendants misled investors with unrealistic and materially false statements about market demand for ELC’s products and its inventory levels. These statements concealed the truth about ELC’s weakness in the market until, on May 3, 2023, the company announced weaker sales and profit for the year than estimated and accordingly cut its fiscal year outlook for a third consecutive time.
 
As a result, the price of ELC stock declined from $245.22 per share on May 2, 2023 to $202.70 per share on May 3, 2023.
 
This development was followed by speculation that billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz was looking to engineer a shakeup at ELC – rumors which were promptly put to rest.
 
Then, in August, ELC reported that its net sales for the full year declined 10% to $15.91 billion.

More Estée Lauder News

The Estée Lauder Companies recently made a minority investment in “clean” beauty startup Code Mint through its New Incubator Ventures (NIV)—its first-ever investment in a Chinese beauty brand.