Ross Stores Q3 earnings up 15 percent

Ross Stores earnings per share for the 13 weeks ended October 31, 2015 increased 15 percent to 0.53 dollar, on net earnings that rose 12 percent to 216 million dollars. Sales for the third quarter grew 7 percent to 2.783 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 3 percent on top of last year's 4 percent gain.

”We are pleased with the better-than-expected sales and earnings growth we achieved in the third quarter. These results demonstrate that customers continue to respond positively to the wide assortments of fresh and exciting bargains we offer throughout our stores. Third quarter operating margin of 12.1percent was ahead of plan, up 30 basis points over last year, mainly driven by higher merchandise margin,” said Barbara Rentler, Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Nine months earnings also witness a rise

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, earnings per share increased 15 percent to 1.85 dollars, while net earnings rose 12 percent to 757 million dollars. Sales increased 8 percent to 8.689 billion dollars, with comparable store sales up 4 percent.

"During the first nine months of fiscal 2015, we repurchased 10.4 million shares of common stock for an aggregate price of 530 million dollars. We remain on track to repurchase a total of 700 million dollars in common stock during fiscal 2015 under the two-year 1.4 billion dollars authorization approved by our Board of Directors in February of this year," added Rentler.

Maintains FY16 outlook

Looking ahead, Rentler said, “In the upcoming fourth quarter, we face challenging prior year comparisons, ongoing uncertainty in the macro-economic environment, and a holiday season that will be highly promotional. Therefore, while we hope to do better, we believe it is prudent to maintain our prior guidance for this period. For the 13 weeks ending January 30, 2016, we continue to project same store sales to be flat to up 1 percent, versus a strong 6 percent gain in the prior year, with earnings per share of 0.60 dollar to 0.63 dollar compared to 0.60 dollar in last year's fourth quarter. For fiscal 2015, earnings per share are now forecast to be in the range of 2.45 dollars to 2.48 dollars, up 11 percent to 12 percent from 2.21 dollars in fiscal 2014.”