Ross Stores posted a strong first quarter, with both earnings and sales gaining.
For the first quarter ended April 29, Ross Stores posted earnings of $321 million, or 82 cents per diluted share, versus $290.6 million, or 73 cents per diluted share, in the period last year.
Ross earnings per diluted share topped a MarketBeat analyst average estimate by two cents.
Sales gained 7% to $3.31 billion with comparable store sales up 3%, the company noted.
Barbara Rentler, Ross CEO, said, “We achieved respectable growth in both sales and earnings during the first quarter despite the uncertainty and volatility in the external environment. Operating margin of 15.2% exceeded our expectations due to above-plan sales and merchandise margin.”
Looking ahead, Rentler added, “For the second quarter ending July 29, 2017, we are forecasting same store sales to be up 1% to 2%, on top of a 4% gain last year, with earnings per share of $.73 to $.76, up from $.71 in the prior year period. Based on our first quarter results and guidance for the second quarter, we now project earnings per share for the 53 weeks ending February 3, 2018 to be in the range of $3.07 to $3.17, compared to $2.83 last year.”
