Second quarter sales and earnings up at Ross Stores

Ross Stores, Inc. reported earnings per share for the second quarter ended August 3, 2019 of 1.14 dollars, up from 1.04 dollars last year. Net earnings grew to 413 million dollars compared to 389 million dollars in the prior year. The company’s sales rose 6 percent to 4 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 3 percent. For the six months, earnings per share were 2.29 dollars, up from 2.15 dollars last year, while net earnings reached 834 million dollars versus 808 million dollars in the first half of 2018. Sales for the period rose 6 percent to 7.8 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 2 percent.

Commenting on the trading results, Barbara Rentler, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement: “We delivered respectable gains in both sales and earnings for the second quarter. While our Ladies business continued to trail the chain, trends in this important area showed some improvement during the period. Operating margin of 13.7 percent was better than expected, mainly due to favourable timing of expenses that are expected to reverse in the second half.”

“We continue to forecast same store sales gains of 1 percent to 2 percent for both the third and fourth quarters. If sales perform in line with this guidance, including a slight impact from the recently announced tariffs, earnings per share for the third quarter are forecasted to be 92 cents to 96 cents, compared to 91 cents a year ago. For the fourth quarter, earnings per share are projected to be 1.20 dollars to 1.25 dollars versus 1.20 dollars in the prior year. Based on our first half results and second half guidance, earnings per share for fiscal year 2019 are now planned to be in the range of 4.41 dollars to 4.50 dollars,” added Rentler.