E.l.f. CEO addresses short seller’s fraud accusations
In a Thursday interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, E.l.f. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin denied recent accusations from a high-profile short seller who said the cosmetics company has been overstating its revenue, calling the report “absolute nonsense.”
“The facts are, we just finished our 23rd consecutive quarter of net sales and market share growth, and our company’s extremely healthy, has terrific controls on inventory, on revenue recognition and is very well-run,” Amin said. “This is a short seller trying to manipulate the stock down at the expense of other shareholders.”
Hedge fund Muddy Waters said Wednesday that it had shorted shares of E.l.f., alleging that the cosmetics company had overstated its inventory numbers.
Amin said E.l.f. asked the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in February to keep its import data confidential for “competitive reasons,” so Muddy Waters’ claims don’t hold weight. E.l.f. has seen growth even as peers in the beauty industry struggle with an inflated consumer landscape. Amin has said previously that his company’s low prices draw in consumers who feel stretched and highlighted the viral success of some of its digital marketing campaigns.
But Muddy Waters claimed its proof of deceit goes beyond import data.
“In addition to the import data, Muddy Waters confirmed with three of E.l.f.’s four major suppliers that E.l.f.’s purchases have declined this calendar year,” Muddy Waters founder Carson Block told CNBC in a statement. “One of the suppliers stated E.l.f.’s purchases were down due to E.l.f. working down its inventory balance. It’s telling that E.l.f’s response failed to address our finding that E.l.f.’s inventory increase could not have been due to a sourcing process change.”
Amin dismissed these allegations, citing net sales growth from the previous quarter and consumer data outlets that show E.l.f. gaining market share.
“If you look at our consumption on Nielson and Circana, it’s extremely strong,” he said. “In fact, we built up inventory to be able to meet the strong demand that we’re seeing not only in the U.S., but also internationally, our international business was up 91% last quarter.”
