Ross Stores, Inc. reported earnings per share of 1.33 dollars, up from 1 dollar per share for the same period last year. Net income for the quarter also rose to 447 million dollars.
For the nine months, earnings per share rose to 3.74 dollars on net earnings of 1.3 billion dollars.
Sales for the third quarter rose to 4.9 billion dollars and comparable store sales increased 5 percent. Sales for the first nine month period were 14.4 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 4 percent over the prior year.
Commenting on the strong third quarter, Barbara Rentler, the company’s CEO said in a statement: “We are pleased that both sales and earnings outperformed our expectations for the quarter as customers responded favourably to the terrific values we offered throughout our stores.”
“While we hope to do better, we continue to project same store sales for the 13 weeks ending January 27, 2024 to be up 1 percent to 2 percent. Earnings per share for the 14 weeks ending February 3, 2024 are planned to be in the range of 1.56 dollars to 1.62 dollars, compared to 1.31 dollars in the prior year,” Rentler added.
Commenting on the full year outlook, Rentler further said: “Based on our year-to-date results and our fourth quarter forecast, earnings per share for the 53 weeks ending February 3, 2024 are now expected to be in the range of 5.30 dollars to 5.36 dollars versus 4.38 dollars last year.”