Ross Stores reports drop in Q3 earnings

Ross Stores, Inc. reported earnings per share for the third quarter of 1 dollar on net income of 342 million dollars compared to earnings per share of 1.09 dollars on net income of 385 million dollars for the same quarter last year.

Sales for the quarter were 4.6 billion dollars, in line with the prior year, with comparable store sales down 3 percent on top of a 14 percent gain for the same period in 2021.

Commenting on the third quarter trading, Barbara Rentler, the company’s CEO said: “Operating margin for the period was 9.8 percent versus 11.4 percent last year, reflecting the deleveraging effect from the comparable sales decline as well as pressure from higher markdowns and unfavourable timing of packaway-related costs.”

For the nine months ended October 29, 2022, earnings per share were 3.08 dollars on net earnings of 1.1 billion dollars versus 3.82 dollars per share on net income of 1.4 billion dollars for the same year-to-date period in 2021. Sales for the first nine months of 2022 were 13.5 billion dollars, with comparable store sales down 5 percent.

Looking ahead, Rentler added: “We continue to expect a very promotional holiday selling season and ongoing inflationary headwinds to pressure our low-to-moderate income customers. We now expect fourth quarter same store sales to be flat to down 2 percent with earnings per share forecasted to be in the range of 1.13 dollars to 1.26 dollars.”

“Based on our year-to-date results and our fourth quarter forecast, earnings per share for fiscal 2022 are now projected to be in the range of 4.21 dollars to 4.34 dollars versus 4.87 dollars last year,” Rentler further said.