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Ross Stores (ROST) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Ross Stores (ROST - Free Report) closed at $234.83, marking a +1.85% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.33%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.08%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.08%.

The discount retailer's stock has climbed by 2.57% in the past month, exceeding the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.37% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.41%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Ross Stores in its upcoming earnings disclosure. On that day, Ross Stores is projected to report earnings of $1.82 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 15.19%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $6.2 billion, indicating a 10.68% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $8.77 per share and revenue of $25.65 billion, indicating changes of +32.68% and +12.76%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Ross Stores. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Ross Stores presently features a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Ross Stores has a Forward P/E ratio of 26.28 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.09, so one might conclude that Ross Stores is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can also see that ROST currently has a PEG ratio of 1.8. 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 Retail - Discount Stores industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.8 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 5, which puts it in the top 3% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

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