Ross Stores exceeds 4Q profit forecasts

Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) on Tuesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $450.7 million.

On a per-share basis, the Dublin, California-based company said it had net income of $1.19. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains and non-recurring gains, were 98 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 93 cents per share.

The discount retailer posted revenue of $4.07 billion in the period, beating Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.95 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.36 billion, or $3.55 per share. Revenue was reported as $14.13 billion.

Ross Stores expects full-year earnings to be $3.86 to $4.03 per share.

Ross Stores shares have increased slightly since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 2 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $80.51, an increase of 19 percent in the last 12 months.

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A previous version of this story incorrectly reported Ross Stores' fourth-quarter earnings adjusted for pretax gains and non-recurring gains. That figure is 98 cents per share, which exceeded Wall Street estimates.

Portions of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ROST at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ROST