CLSA analyst Caroline Levy upgraded Estee Lauder to Buy with a $110 price target following a meeting with CEO Fabrizio Freda and CFO Tracey Travis. Levy came away impressed by their confidence in Estee's business outlook, despite secular pressure on U.S. department stores and a shift in travel patterns by emerging market consumers. The analyst sees a long runway for Estee in China to broaden its brand portfolio, the shift to makeup as an advantage from a growth standpoint given its leading position, and growth in store-owned online to offset the channel shift from department stores.

Deutsche Bank placed a "Catalyst Call: Buy" on Estee Lauder as a short-term investment idea. The analyst views the setup into Estee's fiscal Q3 results on May 1 "skewing positively." The firm sees the company as likely to report "in-line-to-better" results versus Street estimates, including confirmation that long-standing China travel retail inventory backlogs have been cleared, while reiterating fiscal 2024 guidance.