Ross Stores Q4 Results Top Estimates

(RTTNews) - Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) reported net earnings for the fourth quarter of $249 million or $1.20 per share, compared to $218 million or $1.02 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Sales for the fourth quarter rose 11% to $3.03 billion, with same-store sales up 6%.

Analysst polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.11 per share on revenue of $2.93 billion for the fourth quarter.

The company said that its Board of Directors recently approved a program to repurchase $1.4 billion of its common stock over the next two years through fiscal 2016. At recent stock prices, this new authorization represents about 7% of the company's total market value and a 27% increase over the prior two-year $1.1 billion authorization that was completed in January 2015.

The company's Board also recently approved an increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.235 per share, up 18% on top of an 18% increase in the prior year. This higher quarterly dividend is payable on March 31 to stockholders of record as of March 9.

Looking forward to the first quarter, the company forecasts same-store sales growth of 2% to 3% and earnings of $1.21 to $1.26 per share.

For the fiscal year 2015, the company forecasts same-store sales growth of 1% to 2% and earnings of $4.60 to $4.80 per share.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.29 per share for the first quarter and $4.79 per share for the fiscal year 2015.