Why Is ROST Stock Jumping Nearly 6% In Overnight Trading Today?

• Ross Stores Q1 revenue of $6.01 billion and $2.02 earnings per share both surpassed Wall Street’s estimates. 
• CEO James Conroy said strong customer traffic across income groups, age brackets, and demographics fueled Q1 growth.
• The company still plans to grow its store count by about 5% this year and expects to open around 110 new locations.

Ross Stores (ROST) stock rallied over 5% overnight on Thursday after the discount retailer posted stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter (Q1) results and boosted its full-year outlook. 

The company’s quarterly results showed that discount retailers are still seeing strong demand as inflation and economic uncertainty push shoppers toward cheaper products. 

ROST’s Q1 Performance 

Ross Stores reported Q1 revenue of $6.01 billion, a 21% year-on-year increase and topping analysts’ estimate of $5.64 billion, according to Fiscal AI data. Earnings also exceeded expectations, with diluted earnings per share reaching $2.02 compared with the Street estimate of $1.73.

The retailer’s same-store sales advanced 17%, a major improvement over last year's relatively flat comparable sales. Ross Stores also raised fiscal 2026 earnings guidance, forecasting between $7.50 and $7.74 per share, compared to the estimate of $7.42. 

ROST’s Strong Customer Traffic, Inventory Discipline 

Speaking in the Q1 earnings call, Ross Stores' CEO James Conroy said shoppers across multiple demographic groups continued turning to off-price retailers for discounted merchandise.

“The comp increase was primarily driven by a growth in transactions, and we saw healthy increases in customer count on a comp store basis across income levels, ethnicities and all age groups, including the young customer,” said Conroy.

While higher tax refunds provided some support, Conroy emphasized that the company also benefited from stronger underlying shopping trends. Conroy said younger consumers also contributed meaningfully to the sales gains as bargain-focused shopping habits remained strong amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

He credited an improved inventory balance with helping the company perform better in February, a month that has historically produced weaker results for the chain.

Consolidated inventory increased 12% from the prior year, while packaway inventory represented 36% of total merchandise holdings, compared with 41% a year earlier. Ross uses packaway inventory to secure branded excess goods at discounted prices for future selling periods.

Ross Stores opened 13 Ross Dress for Less locations and four dd’s DISCOUNTS stores during Q1. The company continues to target approximately 5% annual unit growth and expects to add roughly 110 stores this year, including about 85 Ross stores and 25 dd’s DISCOUNTS locations.

What Are ROST Retail Traders Saying

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory with a 2,150% jump in message volume in 24 hours. 

A user said, "Absolute monster, congrats everyone!”

Another user quipped, “Should be at $250 after that kind of report.”

ROST stock has gained over 20% year-to-date. 

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