Ross Stores Q1 earnings rise 17 percent

Ross Stores, Inc. reported first quarter earnings per share grew 17 percent to 1.34 dollars on net income of 476 million dollars. This compares to 1.15 dollars per share or net earnings of 421 million dollars for the same quarter ended May 4, 2019. Sales totalled 4.5 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 13 percent versus 2019.

Commenting on the trading results, Barbara Rentler, chief executive officer of the company, said: “First quarter sales significantly exceeded our expectations as we benefited considerably from a combination of government stimulus payments, ongoing vaccine rollouts, easing of Covid restrictions, and pent-up consumer demand.”

The company’s board of directors also authorized a new program to repurchase up to 1.5 billion dollars of its common stock through fiscal 2022, with plans to buy back 650 million dollars this year and 850 million dollars in 2022.

Commenting on the outlook, Rentler added: “We are forecasting same store sales to be up 5 percent to 7 percent for the 13 weeks ending July 31, 2021. Second quarter earnings per share are projected to be 80 cents to 89 cents, versus 1.14 dollars in fiscal 2019. For the 52 weeks ending January 29, 2022, we are planning annual comparable store sales gains of 7 percent to 9 percent versus 2019 and earnings per share of 3.93 dollars to 4.20 dollars.”