e.l.f. Beauty CFO Mandy Fields on 38% sales growth, Rhode acquisition, and Super Bowl ad strategy

Summary

e.l.f. Beauty reported 38% net sales growth and 79% adjusted EBITDA growth in its latest quarter. The gains came from three sources: a value-focused product mix with 75% of e.l.f. brand products priced at $10 or less, an aggressive marketing engine, and the August acquisition of Rhode, Hailey Bieber's skincare brand.

Rhode stands out. The brand hit $200 million in sales in less than three years on just 10 products, a rare outcome for celebrity-backed beauty brands, which typically require multiple categories and SKUs to reach that scale. CFO Mandy Fields calls this an outlier win in a category where most celebrity brands fail to gain traction.

Marketing and channel strategy

e.l.f. allocates 24 to 26% of net sales to marketing and digital, distributed across platforms where the brand's community is active. Fields emphasizes that the company's advantage is cultural proximity. Staying connected to community signals lets them execute campaigns that feel relevant rather than generic. The company runs both long-term brand-building plays (like Super Bowl ads with Melissa McCarthy this year, following a Jennifer Coolidge ad four years ago) and direct revenue drivers. Brand awareness has climbed from 13% five or six years ago to over 40% today, which Fields attributes to these sustained collaborations.

Super Bowl advertising is a long-term investment in awareness, not a short-term revenue driver. Fields acknowledges that other tactics generate more immediate returns but treats major broadcast buys as seed capital for sustained brand lift.

AI and M&A

Fields notes the company is preparing backend infrastructure to participate in agentic commerce, describing AI as a tool that can drive both revenue and efficiency, though she does not announce specific implementations. On acquisition strategy, the company is focused on expanding its existing portfolio (e.l.f. Cosmetics, Naturium, Rhode) rather than hunting for the next Rhode. Fields acknowledges that finding a brand of Rhode's caliber and trajectory is rare. Rather than chase lightning in a bottle, e.l.f. will deepen what it owns before opportunistically adding if the right asset appears.