Ross Stores Earnings: ROST Stock Slides on Q4 EPS Beat, Uncertain 2019

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Karl Utermohlen Investorplace

Published

Mar 5, 2019 6:21AM EST

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Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST ) reported its latest quarterly earnings figures late on Tuesday, with its profit falling behind when compared to what analysts called for, while its revenue was stronger than what Wall Street projected.

The apparel store said that for its fourth quarter of 2018 , earnings reached $442 million, or $1.20 per share, below the $451 million, or $1.19 per share from the year-ago quarter. Analysts were calling for the retailer to bring in earnings of $1.12 per share, according to data compiled by FactSet .

On the revenue front, Ross Stores raked in sales of $4.1 billion, in line with the FactSet guidance. Meanwhile, its comparable-stores sales were up 4% when stacked up against the same figures during the company's fourth quarter of its fiscal 2017.

"Sales and earnings for both the fourth quarter and fiscal year outperformed our expectations," said CEO Barbara Rentler. "We achieved these results despite our own challenging multi-year comparisons and weakness in our ladies apparel business during the holiday season."

For its fiscal 2019, Ross sees its same-store sales as growing somewhere between 1% to 2%, while earnings are slated to be around $4.30 to $4.50 per share. The brand also authorized a $2.55 billion share buyback program for two years, as well as a 13% increase to its quarterly dividend, now at 25.5 cents per share.

ROST stock was declining about 2.6% after the bell following its mixed quarterly figures. Shares had been gaining about 0.6% during regular trading hours in anticipation of its results.