Key Stats for Ross Stores Stock
- Pre-Market Price change for Ross Stores stock: 9%
- $ROST Stock Price as of Aug. 20: $229
- 52-Week High: $257
- $ROST Stock Price Target: $258
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What Happened?
Ross Stores (ROST) stock jumped 9% in after-hours trading after the off-price retailer posted a Q2 that blew past Wall Street’s expectations.
- The company earned $2.66 per share, well above the $1.95 analysts had penciled in,
- Revenue came in at $6.26 billion against estimates of $6.16 billion.
The strong quarter was driven by a 10% jump in comparable store sales, marking the second straight quarter of double-digit comp growth.
CEO Jim Conroy said the gains came mostly from more shoppers walking through the doors, a mix of brand-new customers, people returning after not shopping at Ross in years, and existing customers visiting more often and spending more.
Gross margin improved by 625 basis points, though a good chunk of that came from $253 million in tariff refunds. Even stripping that out, operating margin still rose 205 basis points, showing the business is genuinely running more efficiently.
Ross didn’t just beat this quarter; it also raised guidance for the rest of the year.
Q3 comparable sales are now expected to grow 6% to 7%, with earnings per share between $1.75 and $1.83, up from $1.58 a year ago. Q4 comps are guided to 4% to 5% growth, with EPS between $2.17 and $2.26.
For the full year, Ross now expects EPS between $8.61 and $8.77, up from $6.61 last year.
Management also said it’s opening more stores than originally planned, 115 total in 2026, up from 110, citing strong performance from recent openings in both new and existing markets.
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What the Market Is Telling Us About Ross Stores Stock
The market’s reaction shows investors are buying into the idea that Ross Stores’ growth isn’t a one-time bounce. Even with tariff refunds boosting the numbers, the underlying business improved too, with margins expanding and traffic climbing across nearly every income group and age range the company tracks.
Ross Stores stock has had a rough stretch recently, up just about 3% over the past three months, but this earnings beat and the guidance raise suggest the market had been underestimating the strength of the business heading into the back half of the year.
Over the past 12 months, Ross Stores stock is still up more than 57%, and today’s move higher signals renewed confidence that management’s playbook- better merchandise, improved store experience, and sharper marketing- is working.
With 14 positive EPS revisions and zero negative ones in the last 90 days, analysts were already leaning bullish on Ross Stores stock before this report.
Tonight’s results give them even more reason to stay that way heading into the fall shopping season.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
