How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Ross Stores (ROST Quick QuoteROST - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to ROST for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Ross Stores' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Ross Stores' main business drivers.

Based in Dublin, CA, Ross Stores Inc. operates as an off-price retailer of apparel and home accessories, primarily in the United States. The company operates its stores under the Ross Dress for Less (Ross) and dd’s DISCOUNTS names. The company’s stores are located mostly in community and neighborhood shopping centers in heavily populated urban and suburban areas.

Ross Stores primarily offers in-season, branded, and designer apparel, footwear, accessories and other home-related merchandise for everyone in the family. This format primarily targets middle-income households. Prices offered at Ross are generally 20% to 60% below the regular prices of most department and specialty stores.

dd’s DISCOUNTS features more moderately-priced first-quality, in-season, name brand apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions for the entire family. These stores target moderate-income households. The dd’s DISCOUNTS stores offer products at a 20% to 70% lesser price than the moderate department and discount stores.

Ross Stores remains focused with its store expansion initiatives over the years. Further, the company’s efforts to expand base by making efforts to increase penetration in the existing as well as new markets. In this regard, it opened 26 stores across nine different states in February and March.

As of Jan 29, 2022, Ross Stores operated 1,923 outlets, including 1,628 Ross stores across 40 states, the District of Columbia and Guam, as well as 295 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores in 21 states.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Ross Stores ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in May 2012 would be worth $3,173.69, or a 217.37% gain, as of May 3, 2022, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 196.32% and the price of gold increased 9.22% over the same time frame in comparison.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for ROST.

Ross Stores lagged the industry in the past three months. The stock’s dismal run on the bourses can be attributed to soft fiscal 2022 view and the first quarter due the last year’s stimulus gains and solid demand. It also reported mixed fourth-quarter fiscal 2021, wherein the bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while the top line missed the same. Meanwhile, earnings fell year over year. Results were impacted by the surge in Omicron cases in the holiday selling period and continued supply-chain issues. Cost pressures related to freight, wages and COVID-19 hurt the margins and the bottom line. However, Ross Stores anticipates returning to double-digit EPS growth in fiscal 2023 and beyond. It revised its long-long-term stores expansion targets to 2,400 Ross stores and 700 dd's DISCOUNT stores.

The stock is up 8.75% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 2 higher, for fiscal 2022. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.