Ross Stores reported sales of $322 million for the four weeks ended May 1, 2004, an 11% increase above the $289 million in sales for the four weeks ended May 3, 2003. Comparable store sales for the month increased 2% over the prior year.
For the 13 weeks ended May 1, 2004, sales totaled $992 million, a 13% increase above the $879 million in sales for the 13 weeks ended May 3, 2003. Comparable store sales for the 13 weeks ended May 1, 2004 increased 3% over the prior year.
In commenting, Michael Balmuth, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “April same store sales underperformed our projections for a 4% to 5% gain, mainly due to slower sales during the latter part of the month. However, both merchandise margins and expenses came in slightly better than expected during April. As a result, we continue to estimate that earnings per share will be within our previously forecast range of $.31 to $.32 for the 13 weeks ended May 1, 2004, compared to earnings per share of $.32 for the 13 weeks ended May 3, 2003.”
Mr. Balmuth further noted, “During April, we went live as scheduled with our new Core Merchandising System. This technology is expected to improve our ability to plan, buy and allocate merchandise more precisely. However, as we changed over to the new system, we have experienced longer-than-expected delays in accessing information on current merchandise trends. In the interim, we are using historical data to allocate merchandise.”
Mr. Balmuth continued, “Business has improved modestly since the last week of April with same store sales for the first three days of May up 3%. However, we would expect that the delays in trend information we experienced over the past few weeks have caused merchandise assortments to become out of balance to some degree. In light of this situation, we now believe that same store sales during the second quarter will fall below our prior forecast of a 4% to 5% increase. We expect to be in a more informed position to provide specific sales and earnings guidance on the second quarter in our First Quarter Press Release and Conference Call on Wednesday, May 19th. At that point, we will be able to comment further on sales trends to date in May and expect to have detailed merchandise trend data to more accurately forecast sales and margins during the second quarter.”
