• Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Ross Stores reports same-store sales growth of 14 percent

Ross Stores reports same-store sales growth of 14 percent

By Prachi Singh

loading...

Scroll down to read more

Business

DAVID MCNEW / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

Ross Stores, Inc. reported earnings per share for the third quarter of 1.09 dollars on net income of 385 million dollars. This compares to 1.03 dollars per share on net earnings of 371 million dollars for the 13 weeks ended November 2, 2019. Sales rose 19 percent to 4.6 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 14 percent.

Commenting on the third quarter trading, Barbara Rentler, the company’s chief executive officer, said: “Third quarter sales and profitability significantly exceeded our expectations as consumers continued to respond favorably to our broad assortment of great bargains. Operating margin of 11.4 percent was better than plan, though down from 2019 as leverage from the robust sales gains was partially offset by ongoing headwinds from higher freight, wage, and Covid-related costs.”

For the nine months ended October 30, 2021, earnings per share were 3.82 dollars on net earnings of 1.4 billion dollars, up from 3.32 dollars per share on net income of 1.2 billion dollars for the same period in 2019. Sales year-to-date rose 20 percent to 13.9 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 14 percent.

Looking ahead, Rentler added: “While we are encouraged by the ongoing strength of consumer demand, there remains significant uncertainty related to the worsening industry-wide supply chain congestion as we enter the important holiday season. As a result, we are projecting fourth quarter comparable store sales gains of 7 percent to 9 percent and earnings per share in the range of 83 cents to 93 cents. Based on our year-to-date results and our updated fourth quarter guidance, we are now planning earnings per share for fiscal 2021 to be in the range of 4.65 dollars to 4.75 dollars on a comparable store sales gain of 12 percent to 13 percent.”

Ross Stores