Ross Stores, Inc. reported that sales for the four weeks ended Oct. 30, 2010 increased 8% to $600 million from $557 million for the four weeks ended Oct. 31, 2009. Same store sales for the month rose 4% on top of a 9% gain in the prior year.
For the quarter ended Oct. 30, 2010, sales were $1.87 billion, a 7% increase over the $1.74 billion in sales for the quarter ended Oct. 31, 2009. Comparable store sales for the third quarter were up 3% on top of an 8% increase last year.
For the nine months ended Oct. 30, 2010, sales totaled $5.72 billion, up 10% over the $5.20 billion in sales for the nine months ended Oct. 31, 2009. Comparable store sales for the nine months ended Oct. 30, 2010 increased 6% on top of a 5% gain in 2009.
Michael Balmuth, vice chairman and CEO, commented, “We are pleased with October same store sales that were ahead of our forecast of flat to up 1%. As weather turned cooler in many of our core markets, we saw increased traffic to our stores. Dresses and Home remained our top-performing merchandise categories for the month, while Florida was the strongest market.”
Mr. Balmuth continued, “Based on better-than-expected sales and margins in October, we now estimate earnings per share for the 13 weeks ended October 30, 2010 will increase 20% to 21%, to $1.01 to $1.02, from last year's 84 cents per share.”
