Ross Stores beat Wall Street fourth-quarter estimates as consumers responded to the off-price retailer’s updated assortments and values, the company reported.
Ross Stores posted a net income of $447 million, or $1.31, per diluted share for the quarter versus $366.8 million, or $1.04 per diluted share, in the period a year earlier, the company stated.
The company topped a MarketBeat-published diluted earnings per share estimate of $1.23 and a revenue estimate of $5.14
Net sales were $5.21 billion versus $5.02 billion, with comparable store sales up 1% versus the year previous.
For the full fiscal year, diluted earnings per share were $4.38 on net income of $1.51 billion, compared to $4.87 per share on net earnings of $1.72 billion in the year earlier.
Net sales at Ross were $18.7 billion versus $18.92 billion in the year previous, with comps down 4%.
Barbara Rentler, Ross CEO, said, “During a very competitive holiday season, fourth-quarter sales and earnings exceeded our guidance due to customers’ positive response to our improved assortments and stronger value offerings. Fourth-quarter operating margin was 10.7% compared to 9.8% in 2021. This improvement was mainly driven by lower freight and incentive costs that were partially offset by unfavorable timing of packaway-related expenses.”
