** Shares in L'Oreal rise about 5% after the French cosmetics giant beat expectations on Q1 sales as mass-market makeup outshone luxury
** Q1 sales rise 9.4% to 11.24 bln euros ($11.95 bln), above consensus expectations of 6.1% cited by Jefferies
** Stifel says the biggest positive surprises come from Europe and Consumer Products, while North Asia and Luxe are not worse than feared
** RBC notes Q1 growth materially beats expectations even when adjusted for a positive one-off from IT systems change and insurance
** "We anticipate a strongly positive share price reaction," Stifel says, as investors have been cautious so far due to U.S. data softness, a warning from ULTA , and weak cosmetics retails sales data in China
** Between ULTA's warning and Tuesday's close, L'Oreal shares lost about 3.7% in value, before paring the losses to 1.7% at Thursday's close
** "We think the market trends suggest the worst is over (in Asia)," J.P.Morgan says, which should give some reassurance to Shiseido and Kose
** The stock is heading for a best day in 15 months if gains hold
($1 = 0.9406 euros)
(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski)
((piotr.lipinski@tr.com))
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