Ross Stores (ROST) ended the recent trading session at $189.27, demonstrating a +1.22% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.01% for the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.55%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.44%.
The stock of discount retailer has risen by 2.84% in the past month, leading the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.61% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.86%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Ross Stores in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.84, reflecting a 2.79% increase from the same quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $6.35 billion, showing a 7.32% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.45 per share and a revenue of $22.46 billion, representing changes of +2.06% and +6.31%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Ross Stores. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Ross Stores presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
With respect to valuation, Ross Stores is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 28.98. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 28.98, so one might conclude that Ross Stores is trading at no noticeable deviation comparatively.
It's also important to note that ROST currently trades at a PEG ratio of 4.12. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Retail - Discount Stores industry stood at 3.46 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 43, putting it in the top 18% of all 250+ industries.
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.
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Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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