Feb 13 (Reuters) – L'Oreal shares fell around 6% in early trading on Friday, on track for their worst trading day since at least October, after the French beauty major's fourth-quarter sales slightly missed analysts' expectations. The Paris-based owner of Maybelline, whose quarterly revenue came at 11.3 billion euros ($13.4 billion), suffered from a lack of continued rebound in North Asia, the world's second biggest beauty market, where sales grew less than expected. Ahead of market open, analysts said they expected stock to be under pressure due to "big misses" in the luxury segment and North Asia, with RBC noting investors' expectations had been high for the sales growth. "The fourth-quarter set up makes it difficult to envision top-line acceleration in full year of 2026," J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note to clients, adding that while business in Europe and emerging markets supported performance, they remained cautious on the European demand in 2026. Deutsche Bank Research, in its take on the results, also said earnings growth was likely to slow in the near term. ($1 = 0.8435 euros) (Reporting by Mateusz Rabiega; Additional reporting by Piotr Lipinski in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
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