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Ross Stores (ROST) Advances But Underperforms Market: Key Facts

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Ross Stores (ROST - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $149.79, demonstrating a +0.57% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.61%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.3%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.28%.

Shares of the discount retailer witnessed a loss of 1.02% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its gain of 2.32% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.08%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Ross Stores in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.65, down 9.34% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.92 billion, down 1.77% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.17 per share and revenue of $21.13 billion. These totals would mark changes of +10.97% and +3.71%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Ross Stores. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Ross Stores presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Ross Stores is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 24.12. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 20.63 for its industry.

Investors should also note that ROST has a PEG ratio of 2.46 right now. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Retail - Discount Stores industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.35.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 27, this industry ranks in the top 11% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.


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