Ross Stores Inc. shares rose more than 7% in the extended session Tuesday after the retailer topped Wall Street expectations for its fourth quarter, said it plans to open more stores, and announced a dividend increase. Ross said it earned $367 million, or $1.04 a share, in the quarter, compared with $456 million, or $1.28 a share, in the year-ago period. Sales rose to $5 billion, from $4.4 billion a year ago, Ross said. FactSet consensus called for EPS of 95 cents on sales of $4.95 billion. “We achieved strong sales results in the fourth quarter despite the negative impact from both the surge in omicron cases during the peak holiday selling period and continued supply-chain congestion,” Chief Executive Barbara Rentler said in a statement. Ross also said its board authorized a $1.9 billion share buyback program and increased the company’s dividend by 9% to 31 cents a share. The dividend is payable March 31 to stockholders of record March 15. Rentler said that 2022 is “extremely difficult to predict,” and not only because of the ongoing pandemic: Ross will be “up against last year’s record government stimulus and the lifting of COVID restrictions that led to unprecedented consumer demand which fueled extraordinary sales gains in the Spring of 2021,” she said. Consumers remain focused on “value and convenience,” however, and Ross has seen favorable sales trends, leading it to plan a store expansion to 2,900 locations, up from a prior target of 2,400. For 2023 and beyond, it targeted a return to double-digit EPS growth.
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