Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

Fortune 500

Industries included in the sector are automotive retail, general merchandisers, internet retail, and specialty retail.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Retailing

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-242-Ross Stores

The discount retailer operates more than 1,500 Ross Dress for Less stores, which are located throughout 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, as well as 277 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores across 21 states. The company temporarily closed all its stores for nearly two months in 2020 but has since made up for revenue losses as sales have bounced back.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-202-Ross-Stores

The discount retailer operates more than 1,500 Ross Dress for Less stores, which are located throughout 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, as well as about 260 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores across 19 states.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2017 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

World's Most Admired Companies

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

Company Info

Industry

Location

Industry Rank

Previous Industry Rank

Website

Overall Score

Key Attributes Of Reputation

Innovation

People Management

Use of Corporate Assets

Social Responsibility

Quality of Management

Financial Soundness

Long-Term Investment Value

Quality of Products/Services

Global Competitiveness

Key Financials (last Fiscal Year)

Revenues ($M)

Profits ($M)

Assets ($M)

Total Stockholder Equity ($M)

Profit Ratios

Profit as % of Revenues

Profits as % of Assets

Profits as % of Stockholder Equity

Earnings Per Share (last Fiscal Year)

Earnings Per Share ($)

EPS % Change (from prior fiscal year)

EPS % Change (5 year annual rate)

EPS % Change (10 year annual rate)

Total Return

Total Return to Investors (last year)

Total Return to Investors (5 year, annualized)

Total Return to Investors (10 year, annualized)

<p>Ross Stores operates one of the largest off-price apparel and home goods chains in the U.S. As of early 2025, there were more than 1,800 Ross Dress for Less stores across 44 U.S. states, plus Guam and the District of Columbia. Ross sells apparel, accessories, footwear, and home goods at a 20% to 60% discount compared with regular department store prices. The company also operates over 350 DD’s Discounts stores, offering clothes, accessories, and more at moderate prices. Founded in 1982, Ross Stores continues to add locations, opening 19 stores across 14 states in March 2025.</p>

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Ross Stores (ROST): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

legacy

Ross Stores

ross stores

Good afternoon, and welcome to The Raw Stores Fourth Quarter and Fiscal twenty twenty four Earnings Release Conference Call.

The call will be given with prepared comments by management followed by a question and answer session. Before we get started, on behalf of Ross Stores, I would like to note that the comments made on this call will contain forward looking statements regarding expectations about future growth and financial results, including sales and earnings forecasts, new store openings and other matters that are based on the company's current forecast of aspects of its future business. These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance or current expectations. Risk factors are included in today's press release and the company's fiscal twenty twenty three Form 10 K and fiscal twenty twenty four Form 10 Qs and eight Ks on file with the SEC. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Connie Kao, Group Vice President of Investor Relations.

Thank you, John, and thank you everyone for joining our fourth quarter earnings call today. I have the great pleasure of introducing Jim Conroy, our newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, who joined us in December. Jim?

Thank you, Connie, and good afternoon. Also joining me on our call today are Michael Hartshorn, Group President and Chief Operating Officer and Adam Orbos, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I would like to begin my remarks by expressing my appreciation to my predecessor, Barbara Rentler. Our two months overlap was an invaluable transition period for me as I was able to immerse myself in the company, while Barbara led the day to day operations of the business. I'm grateful she will continue to serve as a strategic advisor and I look forward to building on the foundation that she has created in the company's long history of success.

Now let's turn to the fourth quarter results. As noted in today's press release, fourth quarter sales and earnings results were at the high end of our expectations. Sales were driven by our customers' positive responses to the improved assortments of quality branded bargains, coupled with strong execution by the store and supply chain teams during the critical holiday selling season. Earnings per share for the thirteen weeks ended 02/01/2025 were $1.79 compared with $1.82 per share for the fourteen weeks ended 02/03/2024. Net income for the period was $587,000,000 versus $610,000,000 last year.

Sales for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four were $5,900,000,000 with a comparable store sales gain of 3% on top of a robust 7% gain in the same period last year. For the 2024 fiscal year, earnings per share were $6.32 up from $5.56 for the fifty three weeks ended 02/03/2024. Net income for fiscal twenty twenty four rose to $2,100,000,000 compared to $1,900,000,000 last year. Total sales for the year increased to $21,100,000,000 up from $20,400,000,000 in the prior year period. Comparable store sales for the fifty two weeks ended 02/01/2025 grew 3% versus a 5% gain in fiscal twenty twenty three.

Both the fourth quarter and full year results included a one time benefit to earnings equivalent to approximately $0.14 per share related to the sale of a packaway facility. Additionally, as a reminder, prior year sales and earnings results for the twenty twenty three fourth quarter and fiscal year included approximately $3.00 $8,000,000 in sales and a $0.2 earnings per share benefit from the fifty third week. Fourth quarter operating margin of 12.4% was flat to last year as the gain from the sale of the Packaway facility was offset by planned declines in merchandise margin and unfavorable timing of Packaway related costs. The sale of the facility contributed about 105 basis points to this year's fourth quarter operating margin, while the fifty third week benefited the prior year's period by about 80 basis points. Let's turn now to additional details on our fourth quarter results.

For the holiday selling season, cosmetics and children's were the best performing merchandise areas, while geographically the Pacific Northwest and Texas were the strongest regions. Similar to the prior quarter, DD's discounts posted healthy sales gains as the chain's value and fashion offerings resonated with shoppers. We are especially encouraged by the ongoing improved performance of DD's in our newer markets and expect to begin rebuilding our pipeline there for expanded growth in the near future. At the end of the year, consolidated inventories were up 12% mainly due to higher planned packaway levels. On an average store basis, inventories were up 2%.

Pack away represented 41% of total inventories compared to 40% last year. Regarding our store expansion program, we added 75 new Ross Dress for Less stores and 14 Didi's discounts during the year. Inclusive of 12 closures, we ended the year with 2,186 stores, including eighteen thirty one Ross Dress for Less and three fifty five BDU discounts locations. As noted in today's release, during the recently completed fourth quarter, '1 point '7 million shares were repurchased for a total price of $262,000,000 For fiscal twenty twenty four, a total of 7,300,000.0 shares of common stock were repurchased for an aggregate purchase price of $1,050,000,000 These purchases were made pursuant to the two year two point one billion dollars program announced in March 2024. We expect to complete the $1,050,000,000 remaining under this authorization in fiscal twenty twenty five.

Our Board also recently approved a 10% increase in our quarterly cash dividend to $0.405 per share to be payable on 03/31/2025 to stockholders of record as of 03/18/2025. We ended the year with $4,700,000,000 cash after funding the growth and capital needs of our business. As a result, our ongoing share buyback and increased dividend programs reflect our long standing commitment to return excess cash to our shareholders. Now Adam will provide further details on our fourth quarter results and additional color on our outlook for fiscal twenty twenty five.

Thank you, Jim. As previously mentioned, comparable store sales rose 3% for the quarter generated by both higher traffic and average size of the basket. Fourth quarter operating margin of 12.4% was flat to last year and included a 105 basis point benefit from the facility sale. Cost of goods sold deleveraged by 80 basis points in the quarter. Merchandise margin declined by 85 basis points as planned due to the increased mix of quality branded assortments.

Occupancy deleveraged by 45 basis points as we anniversaried the extra week last year. Distribution costs were flat as unfavorable timing of Packaway related costs offset improved productivity. Domestic freight leveraged by 30 basis points, while buying improved by 20 basis points mainly due to lower incentives. SG and A for the period leveraged by 80 basis points primarily due to the facility sale. Now let's discuss our outlook for fiscal twenty twenty five starting with the first quarter.

While we were pleased with our 2024 results, including the holiday selling period, sales trends began softening later in January and into February. We believe that a combination of unseasonable weather and heightened volatility in the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment has negatively impacted customer traffic. Given the lack of visibility we have on these external factors, we believe it is prudent to take a cautious approach in forecasting our business, especially as we start the year. As a result, we expect comparable store sales for the thirteen weeks ending 05/03/2025 to be down 3% to flat and earnings per share of $1.33 dollars to $1.47 versus $1.46 last year. The operating statement assumptions that support our first quarter guidance include the following: Total sales are planned to be down 1% to up 3% versus last year's first quarter.

If same store sales perform in line with our plan, operating margin for the first quarter is expected to be in the range of 11.4% to 12.1% compared to 12.2% last year. The expected decrease mainly reflects our forecast for sales deleverage and unfavorable timing of Packaway related costs. Merchandise margin is also expected to be down slightly in the first quarter. We plan to add 19 new stores consisting of 16 Ross and three Didi's discounts during the period. Net interest income is estimated to be $35,000,000 Our tax rate is expected to be approximately 24% to 25% and weighted average diluted shares outstanding are forecast to be about $328,000,000 Turning to our full year guidance assumptions for 2025.

For the fifty two weeks ending 01/31/2026, and while we hope to do better, we are planning same store sales to be down 1% to up 2%. Based on these assumptions, fiscal twenty twenty five earnings per share are projected to be $5.95 to $6.55 compared to $6.32 for fiscal twenty twenty four. As previously mentioned, last year's results included a per share benefit of $0.14 from the facility sale. Total sales are planned to be up 1% to up 5% for the year. If same store sales perform in line with our plan, operating margin for the full year is expected to be in the range of 11.5% to 12.2% compared to 12.2% in 2024, which benefited by 30 basis points from the facility sale.

Excluding this one time gain, our operating margin forecast reflects sales deleverage and higher distribution costs as well as lower incentive compensation expenses as we anniversary higher incentive costs in 2024. In addition, we expect merchandise margin to be relatively neutral for fiscal twenty twenty five. For 2025, we expect to open approximately 90 new locations, comprised of about 80 ROST and 10 DDs. These openings do not include our plans to close or relocate about 10 to 15 older stores. Net interest income is estimated to be $127,000,000 Depreciation and amortization expense, includes of stock based amortization, are forecasted to be about $690,000,000 for the year.

The tax rate is projected to be about 24% to 25% and weighted average diluted shares outstanding are expected to be around $325,000,000 In addition, capital expenditures for 2025 are planned to be approximately $855,000,000 as we make further investments in our stores, supply chain and merchant processes to support our long term growth and to increase efficiencies throughout the business. Now, I'll turn the call back to Jim for closing comments.

Thank you, Adam. As Adam mentioned, we have seen softer business as we transitioned out of the fourth quarter and into the first quarter. While there are always opportunities for us to improve our execution, we believe the softness we are currently seeing is primarily due to macro pressures impacting consumer confidence resulting in a pullback in discretionary spending. That said, we believe that some of the recent challenges we are seeing could be transitory in nature. Additionally, we anticipate that the volatile external environment will result in more opportunities for closeout merchandise and could set us up well to deliver even greater values on branded goods in future quarters.

Turning to the broader business, as I reflect on my observations over the past few months, I believe that the brand and merchandising strategies that we have in place for both Ross and DBs are the right ones, and I do not foresee making significant changes to those strategies in the near future. In addition, we have a flexible business model that positions us well to navigate through the current uncertainty and we will continue to focus on the strong execution of our key initiatives. In closing, I would like to thank the more than 100,000 associates throughout the company for their hard work and dedication and for delivering such solid fourth quarter and annual results in 2024. At this point, we would like to open the call and respond to any questions that you may have.

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. And the first question comes from the line of Matthew Boss with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question.

So, Jim, maybe could you elaborate on your top strategic priorities? Any areas that you believe may require any level of structural change relative to opportunities you see to amplify market share in the near to intermediate term? And just on that near term, Jim, and I know how much you like to get into the details. Could you speak to trends maybe that you've seen in parts of the country with less weather impact or initiatives in place to drive comp improvement as the year progresses?

Sure. On the first piece, I've inherited a brand strategy for Ross and a sort of analogous customer strategy for DDs. And while I've only had about three months to sort of evaluate it, they've all seemed extremely sound and very much worth continuing to pursue. So my focus early on really is to learn the off price model, get immersed in the business. And as I think about ongoing changes, they'll be more sort of evolutionary in nature and nothing sort of abrupt or hard left turn or hard right turn.

That said, when I evaluate the company, I think from a merchandising standpoint, it's second to none world class merchandising team. The stores organization is extremely efficient and operationally very sound. We probably have some opportunity to enhance our store environment and shopping experience. And then from a marketing standpoint, I'd say it's probably the least developed muscle and least invested in part of the business. So probably some opportunity to put the brand on a pedestal a bit more and to amplify our messaging in the marketplace to some degree.

But I would expect sort of continuing on of the overarching strategies for the two brands. In terms of the more color commentary across the country and different parts of the business, For the quarter, we had just really nice broad based strength, both geographically and across merchandise categories. Some categories were standout winners, we called out children's and cosmetics, but virtually all businesses and nearly all geographies were also pretty strong. I think that probably covers both of your questions, Matt. Did I miss anything?

Just maybe on the quarter to date, anything in areas of the country where the weather has been more conducive and just to give maybe some confidence on what you're seeing that's more transitory relative to potentially anything that's changed?

Yes. Certainly the weather impacted areas saw more of a decline in business. That said, we did see an inflection point down as we got into February that seemed to get sequentially better throughout the month. Part of that we believe is consumer confidence. Part of that we believe is weather induced, both of which we think will be sort of a transitory shock to the system that created a bit of a pause for the consumer and we have seen them already start to reengage.

So as you can imagine, embedded in our guidance is the business that's behind us and what we expect to see for the balance of the quarter.

And the next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez with Citigroup. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, thanks, Jim. Welcome. Can you talk a little bit about the go deeper into state performance or regional performance in 4Q? And in which regions or states drove the slowdown that you saw thus far in February? And also curious if there's any evidence that new immigration policy might be hurting sales in some way?

Paul, it's Michael. In the quarter, as we said in the commentary, the Pacific Northwest and Texas were the top performing regions. For other larger markets, California and Florida were relatively in line with the chain. Your second question, I assume was on immigration policy. What I'd say is we serve a very broad segment of the population.

From an ethnic perspective, as you know, we over index to the Hispanic customer versus the general population. We'll have to wait and see how the macroeconomic environment and as you say the immigration policy impacts this important customer for us longer term. As Jim said, we believe the initial shock value of the recent policy actions could dissipate over time while we continue to provide great values and support the communities we serve.

Thanks. And then just one follow-up. As you think about the comp guidance for '25, how are you thinking about traffic versus transactions? And maybe just again back to the slowdown, is that a transaction or average ticket sort of slowdown?

Down? We don't plan the business on traffic or transactions. What's happened over the past couple of years is the comp has been driven by both. What we've seen recently is more traffic related, which points to some of the external volatility that everyone is seeing.

And the next question comes from the line of Mark Altschwager with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Just first with respect to the guide, I believe you said merchandise margins are expected to be relatively neutral for the year. What's the takeaway there just with respect to the merchandising strategy and striking the right balance of value in the assortment? Is that still an area of investment and headwinds offset by other factors?

And then separately, just any comments on changes you're seeing in the buying environment post holiday, wondering if this consumer choppiness to start the year is yielding some better buying opportunities? Thank you.

Mark, on the first piece, this is Adam. On merchandise margin, I think we voiced throughout 2024 that was kind of our investment year, right, where we kind of wanted to change the penetration of our branded goods and we feel like we accomplished that by year end. I think 2025 is going to be about learning, listening to what the customer is telling us and we'll certainly react accordingly. But that's why we feel like merchandise margin this year, we're kind of giving that neutral guide and that's what's embedded

In just first quarter, we did build some impact of the tariff that we know thus far, which were the goods in transit when the initial tariffs were announced. Beyond that, we haven't included any impact, but merchant margin is relatively neutral for the year in our guidance.

This is Jim. On the second part of your question, relative to are we starting to see more closeout opportunities? Absolutely, as we've seen some softness across mainstream retailers, some more store closures and just sort of a disrupted supply chain. We're being very opportunistic in picking up these opportunities for closeout product and we think that bodes well for adding some more excitement to the stores going forward and for buying margin accretive goods going forward. So in this sort of off price industry that we're in, we tend to benefit from sort of a dislocation of the overarching retail market.

And the next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

hear words like enhancing the store environment and developing the marketing muscle, I see dollar signs. Do you foresee a step up in investments in the store fleet and marketing expense? Or do you think that you can accomplish this under the confines of the existing margin structure?

At first, I thought your dollar signs were enhanced comp sales dollars. I suppose you're talking more about the expense side. I was. Yes, of course. We need to be sort of prudent and responsible with that.

And I think we could either do it from a cost neutral standpoint or we would need to be able to prove sort of an ROI on any additional spending. So it's very early days to kind of get ahead of myself as to what we'll be doing differently. But I would expect that we'll find some dollars to invest in both those areas over time. Incidentally, the company has been investing in upgrading the fleet over the last few years as well. I think we'll be continuing that going forward and perhaps trying to scrape some dollars together to enhance our marketing program a bit.

And the next question comes from the line of Michael Binetti with Evercore ISI. Please proceed.

Hey guys, Jim, nice to meet you. Welcome to Ross and congrats on moving on to your next adventure. Could you I guess as we look at kind of take out your first quarter guidance, it looks like second quarter through fourth quarter same store sales allows for comps to be flat or even maybe just a touch negative in the back nine of the year. Could you just help us think about what you're baking in at the low end versus the high end, which is I think closer to 2.5% or 3% as you think through the scenarios for the back half of the year? And then, Adam, are there any as we think about the merchandise margin being neutral for the year, is that include an opportunity for you to be leveraging the better brand strategy by the second half of the year?

Michael, on the comp trends for the year, obviously, we guided we would typically come out with two to three comp. Obviously, we lowered the guidance based on what we saw very early in the year and widened the guidance. So the variance between the first quarter and the rest of the year, we have comps fairly neutral through Q2, Q3 and Q4 to get to the down one to plus two comp.

Yes. Michael, this is Adam. On the second piece on the merch margin, right, there's a lot of moving parts.

We thought entering the branded strategy that over time we'd

Obviously, doing a lot of work on tariffs. We've talked about that and then shrinks another variable. We're kind of guiding that flattish this year. External environment still feel like is very tough, but felt like the actions that we continue to take, but also stepped up at the end of last year, we think we'll make that a prudent guide for the year. So those are kind of the puts and takes of how we think about merchandise margin in the balance of the year.

Did I miss did you give shrink for fourth quarter and for 2024?

On shrink, we actually take our physical inventory in the third quarter and we trued it up then.

Yes, it didn't change our forecast. We ended relatively flat to 2023.

And the next question comes from the line of Brooke Roach with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

Good afternoon and thank you for taking our question. I was hoping you could dig into the performance of Didi's discounts. It sounds like you're seeing some good results there such that you're willing to rebuild the pipeline of store growth in the future. Is Didi seeing the same slowdown that the rest of Ross Stores is seeing? And how would you describe demographic changes as we've entered 1Q to date?

What drives your confidence in Didi's on a go forward basis?

Sure, Brooke. Didi's posted healthy sales gains that were above Ross not only for Q4, but throughout 2024. And we feel really good about the fashion and value offerings that we've been able to upgrade at Didi's. It's resonating very well with the customers. We're especially encouraged.

If you recall, we slowed down or stopped our real estate program in newer markets and we're encouraged by the ongoing improved performance which has been ongoing for a little over a year now. And we are going to start rebuilding that pipeline for expanded growth in the near future, although it does take some time to get the pipeline started again and I suspect you'll see increased growth into 'twenty six. Though performing well, Didi saw similar change in trend as Ross in January, February timeframe.

Great. Thanks so much. Best of luck going forward.

And the next question comes from the line of Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks. Just still pretty early in earnings here, but one takeaway is that inventory levels appear much heavier, say, at target today. I guess, how are you thinking about that from a potential headwind on the promotional front if we see more aggressive promotions later in the quarter? And then on category performance in the quarter, can you just double click on apparel and footwear in addition to cosmetics and beauty?

It sounds like generally things were good, but can you just double click on that? Thanks.

On inventory levels, we actually feel good about the levels that we're currently at. We ended the year with average store inventories up about 2%. We had planned our Packaway higher versus last year because we last year at this time we used the Packaway merchandise to fuel our robust 7% gain in the fourth quarter. So the increase at the end of the year was planned against last year.

And in terms of merchandise classifications, overall non apparel businesses did better than apparel and footwear. We talked about the strength in children. The footwear business was comp eroding for us for the fourth quarter.

And the next question comes from the line of Alex Straton with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.

Perfect. Thanks so much. Can you just go through what guidance assumes as it relates to freight? Just seems like that might be a source of pressure for all off pricers this year. And then separately, the supply chain and merchant processes focus you highlighted within the CapEx guide.

Can you just elaborate on what you're doing there exactly or if there are any changes relative to 2024? Thanks so much.

On freight, we typically our freight contracts are May, June timeframe. So during this first part of the year, we're still operating under the current contracts. That said, we currently expect domestic freight to be a headwind in Q1 and the full year. Obviously, that's based on fuel and what happens with fuel over the year. And right now it's favorable versus last year, but that could change.

On the ocean freight, that market has changed pretty dramatically in the last six months. There was a lot of buildup in congestion, spot rates were very high, that has since come down. So we'll wait and see how our contract renewal happens in May.

And Alex, I think the second part of your question was on CapEx. What we guided to was $855,000,000 for 2025. Most of that step up from 2024 is in supply chain. So we will open our eighth facility this year, but the costs are really driven by our ninth facility, which will open up two to three years from now, but do most of that construction in 2025.

And then on that piece of the merchant processes, what exactly are you guys changing there or I guess investing in there?

Most of the investments that are happening in the merchant organization is around really two things. The upfront process we're putting in new tools for the merchants that will make it much easier from purchase order to completion of buy and we're also investing in enterprise wide data that will allow the entire organization, but most specifically the merchants to have a better view of the business at any point in time.

And the next question comes from the line of Adrienne Yih with Barclays. Please proceed with your question.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go back to I think you'd mentioned doing work on the tariffs. Can you remind us what your sort of direct sourcing exposure is? I know it's pretty de minimis from China, Canada and Mexico. And then how are you handling or how did you handle in the last tariff cycle kind of negotiating power?

It would seem that you can certainly push back more so than other business models. And then my follow-up question is on the branded product. Given that the merch margins are flat, are we anniversarying the penetration of branded? And are you seeing ATV higher driven by the new branded product? Thank you.

On the tariff, we don't disclose the actual percentage of the direct tariff, but it is a small portion of our business. Obviously, we're continuing to monitor the day to day changes in the tariff policy. Mexico and Canada are very small portion, very de minimis part of our overall business. Clearly, our focus will be maintaining the price umbrella versus traditional retailer and offer the best values to the customer. We certainly wouldn't be on the forefront of raising prices.

For us, disruptions like this, as Jim mentioned, could be beneficial to off price and as there'll be more closeout opportunities down the road.

And I think, Adrian, on the branded question, in terms of mix of assortment, we feel like we are at that inflection point and have now anniversary last year on that. Your question about AUR also, again, as Michael said, we don't plan the business that way going forward. But looking back and forth quarter, we did have a slight increase in AUR just how the business mixed out with some of those better branded goods as part of the assortment.

Ross Stores operates one of the largest off-price apparel and home goods chains in the U.S. As of early 2025, there were more than 1,800 Ross Dress for Less stores across 44 U.S. states, plus Guam and the District of Columbia. Ross sells apparel, accessories, footwear, and home goods at a 20% to 60% discount compared with regular department store prices. The company also operates over 350 DD’s Discounts stores, offering clothes, accessories, and more at moderate prices. Founded in 1982, Ross Stores continues to add locations, opening 19 stores across 14 states in March 2025.

Ross Stores Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript | Fortune

Fortune Editors

Fortune 500 Power Moves: Which executives gained and lost power, Aug. 23-Sept. 5, 2025

/2025/09/05/fortune-500-power-moves-aug-23-sept-5/

Nino Paoli

Davenport, Florida, Starbucks Coffee, outside exterior drive thru through.

Starbucks hops on the health craze with protein coffee weight-loss influencers had been concocting in its drive thru for months

/2025/09/04/starbucks-protein-coffee-cold-foam-launch-september-29-health-trend-gen-z-glp1-tiktok-functional-beverages-wellness-menu-innovation/

John Kell

With 100 Gen AI pilot projects but just six in production, Carnival Cruise Line’s CIO takes a measured approach to artificial intelligence journey

/2025/09/03/with-100-gen-ai-pilot-projects-but-just-six-in-production-carnival-cruise-lines-cio-takes-a-measured-approach-to-artificial-intelligence-journey/

Ross Stores (ROST) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Company Participants