Ross Stores boosted its second quarter results, posting an increase in earnings and sales.
For the second quarter ended July 30, Ross Stores reported earnings of $281.9 million, or 71 cents per share, versus $258.6 million, or 63 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period.
Earnings per share beat an analyst average estimate as published by MarketBeat by four cents.
Sales rose 7% in the quarter to $3.18 billion, with comparable store sales advancing 4%.
Barbara Rentler, Ross CEO, said, “Both sales and earnings results in the second quarter were ahead of our forecast. Higher merchandise gross margin during the quarter drove a 50 basis point increase in operating margin to 14.4%, up from 13.9% in the same period last year.”
The company operates 1,317 Ross Dress for Less stores in the U.S., the District of Columbia and Guam, and 184 DD’s Discounts stores.
