Ross Stores (ROST) Reports Q1: Everything You Need To Know Ahead Of Earnings

Off-price retail company Ross Stores will be reporting earnings this Thursday after market close. Here’s what to look for.Ross Stores beat analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $6.64 billion, up 12.2% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts’ gross margin estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ revenue estimates.Is Ross Stores a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.This quarter, the market is expecting Ross Stores’s revenue to grow 13.2% year on year, improving from the 2.6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year.Heading into earnings, analysts covering the company have grown increasingly bullish with revenue estimates seeing in majority upward revisions over the last 30 days. Ross Stores has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates multiple times over the last two years.Looking at Ross Stores’s peers in the general merchandise retail segment, only Dillard's has reported results so far. It exceeded analysts’ revenue estimates, delivering year-on-year sales growth of 2.7%. The stock traded up 1.1% on the results. Read our full analysis of Dillard’s earnings results here.The market narrative shifted from AI-driven sector rotation in late 2025 to geopolitical shock as the US-Iran conflict dominated early 2026. While some of the general merchandise retail stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 12.2% on average over the last month. Ross Stores is down 6.3% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $241.24 (compared to the current share price of $213.87).ONE MORE THING: The $21 AI Application Stock Wall Street Forgot. While Wall Street obsesses over who’s building AI, one company is already using it to print money. And nobody’s paying attention.AI chip stocks trade at ridiculous valuations. This company processes a trillion consumer signals monthly using AI and trades at a third of the price. The gap won’t last. The institutions will figure it out. You need to see this first. Read the FREE Report Before They Notice.