It was another strong quarter for Ross Stores, as the off-price retailer posted gains in overall sales, comps and earnings.
For the second quarter ended July 29, Ross Stores posted net earnings of $316.5 million, or 82 cents per diluted share, versus $281.9 million, or 71 cents per diluted share, in the period a year earlier.
Ross topped a MarketBeat analyst average estimate of 77 cents per diluted share.
Comparable store sales advanced 4% as overall sales rose 8% to $3.43 billion in the quarter year over year.
Barbara Rentler, Ross CEO, said, “We are pleased with the better-than-expected growth we delivered in both sales and earnings in the second quarter, especially given our strong multi-year comparisons and today’s volatile retail climate. Operating margin of 14.9% outperformed our projections, mainly due to a combination of higher merchandise margin and leverage on our above-plan sales gains.”
