Ross Stores GAAP EPS of $1.82 beats by $0.17, revenue of $6.02B beats by $210M (NASDAQ:ROST)

Ross Stores press release (NASDAQ:ROST): Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.82 beats by $0.17.
Revenue of $6.02B (+15.5% Y/Y) beats by $210M.
The sales results for both the 2023 fourth quarter and fiscal year included a $308 million benefit from the 53^rd week. Earnings per share for both periods also benefited from the extra week by approximately $0.20 per share.
The Company’s Board of Directors recently approved a new two-year $2.1 billion stock repurchase authorization for fiscal 2024 and 2025. This new program represents an 11% increase over the recently completed repurchase of $1.9 billion of common stock during 2022 and 2023 combined. The Board also authorized a 10% increase in the Company’s quarterly cash dividend to $0.3675 per share. This higher quarterly dividend amount is payable on March 29, 2024 to stockholders of record as of March 15, 2024.
For the 52 weeks ending February 1, 2025, the Company is planning same store sales to grow 2% to 3% on top of a solid 5% gain in 2023. Based on these assumptions, fiscal 2024 earnings per share are projected to be $5.64 to $5.89 compared to $5.56 for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2024. Again, last year’s results included an estimated per share benefit of $0.20 from the 53^rd week.
For the 13 weeks ending May 4, 2024, comparable store sales are forecast to be up 2% to 3% with earnings per share projected to be $1.29 to $1.35, up from $1.09 in the first quarter ended April 29, 2023.

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