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$38.90 -0.65 (-1.64%)
7/18/2008 1:40 PM

Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST)

CAPS Rating:
**

The Company operates two chains of off-price retail apparel and home accessories stores, which target value-conscious women and men between the ages of 18 and 54, primarily from middle income households.

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Total Players

102 Outperforms
16 Underperforms
 

All-Stars

31 Outperforms
7 Underperforms
 

Wall Street

10 Outperforms
0 Underperforms
 

Players bullish on ROST are also bullish on:

Players bearish on ROST are also bearish on:

Ticker Tags

Apparel Stores (56), Nasdaq 100 (99), Mid Cap (670)
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Ross Stores, Inc. At A Glance

Current Price: $38.90
Last Trade Time: 7/18/2008 1:40 PM
Open: $39.50
Previous Close: $39.55
Daily Range: $38.72 - $39.61
52-Week Range: $21.23 - $40.00
Volume: 1,729,939
Market Cap: $5.25B
P/E Ratio: 19.29
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Stock Trends

ROST VS S&P 500 (SPY)

ROST 12 month chart vs. S&P

News & Discussion Boards

Other News Headlines for ROST

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Top Bull Pitch

Recs

3

Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST)

Avatar waserdo (< 20) Submitted: 2/21/07 6:03 PM

Ross is ready to make a bold and properous move for investors. With continued healthy growth for same store profits and a large increase in new store openings this year Ross looks like a winner for years to come

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Top Bear Pitch

Recs

1

Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST)

Avatar FrancineT (75.23) Submitted: 10/31/06 10:59 AM

Looks like it's near the top pf its cycle

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CAPS Players

picks per page. CHANGE

Results 1 - 5 of 15 :   1 2 3 Next »

Recs

0

 (ROST)

Avatar falcon2382 (99.09) Submitted: 6/16/08 10:24 AM : Underperform Start Price: $37.53 ROST Score: -11.80

Ross Stores have a fantastic business model and will weather the storm ahead. However, expectations that they will weather the storm have taken over rational economics and allowed their stock price to increase as if we were currently in a bull market. Fundamentals completely debase what I agree is a compelling three month technical chart. But it is not so compelling if you back up the truck. A five year chart reveals a mountain range and we are currently at the summit of the largest of these individual mountains.

Let's pull up some stats. Cash and short term investments on the balance sheet is down 25% from the same period in 2007 and projected to remain down 25% in YOY comparison. Cash flow likewise is estimated to be below both 2006 and 2007 numbers. EPS over the past five years is 8.7% with Revenue at 11.09%. These numbers aren't bad, but they should not be commanding a stock price that is currently up 50% in the same period (in which the S&P is down 25%) with dark thunder clouds clearly ahead for retail. Maybe this is why Insiders have sold 275K shares in the past six months.

From a valuation perspective they offer a dividend slightly above the industry average which could be enticing since they have a decent cash position to support it. What scares me, however, is that it has increased by 25.49% over the past 12 months. That in my humble opinion is not sustainable in the current economic environment. Then again, they are playing catch-up in this area as the dividend growth rate over the past three years is actually 10% below the industry average. (so theoretically if they can hold the divvy steady that will probably allow them to move ahead of the industry average as weaker competitors are forced to cut dividends substantially or altogether).

Their debt to capital ratio is one of the lowest in the industry--this is spectacular. HOWEVER, their quick ratio is 0.42. This is scary. That means they do not have enough liquid assets to cover liabilities in the event that earnings are not able to sustain themselves. Just to give you an idea of just how bad that is, the industry average is 1.08x liabilities.

What is most worrisome to me right now is that ROST's profit margins are all (gross, operating, and net) about 25% below the industry average. That means they are making less on each dollar of sales compared to the industry. (keep in mind that the industry average includes companies like Walmart--which obviously skews the numbers, but not so much that ROST should have a price that is relatively STRONGER than WMT in the current environment).

Bottomline: Ross usually does quite well this time of year because college students have to go buy suits and ties and skirts etc... This explains the extremely predictable hills and values in the 5 year stock chart. But with a PE of 18.43 (high given the current eco. environment) and a price to book of 5x I think Ross is very expensive right now.

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Recs

0

 (ROST)

Avatar TMFStockpick08 (< 20) Submitted: 5/27/08 10:38 AM : Outperform Start Price: $35.26 ROST Score: 19.53

This stock was picked by TMFSchool in the 2008 TMF Stockpicking Contest.

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Recs

0

 (ROST)

Avatar arbeadub (< 20) Submitted: 5/08/08 12:51 PM : Underperform Start Price: $34.80 ROST Score: -22.24

Near the top of it's cycle, if it repeats it should drop by $10 to a bottom in mid Dec. '08.

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Recs

0

 (ROST)

Avatar swayla101 (82.25) Submitted: 1/15/08 11:18 PM : Outperform Start Price: $23.66 ROST Score: 73.52

we all want nioce things but with the available money fallling we are more willing to hunt for those things

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Recs

0

 (ROST)

Avatar pcbinsd (70.46) Submitted: 12/05/07 4:37 PM : Outperform Start Price: $26.76 ROST Score: 61.37

better assortment playing out of steep discounting coming in 4Q07, 1Q08 for mall based retailers

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Results 1 - 5 of 15 :   1 2 3 Next »

Wall Street

Results 1 - 10 of 10  

picks per page. CHANGE Expand All Pitches

Top
Pick
Player NamePlayer RatingStart
Date
CallTime FrameStart
Price
Stock
Gain
S&P
Gain
ScorePitch
TrackBobOlstein < 20 06/18/08 Outperform 1Y $37.12+5.04%-6.84%+11.88 Toggle the visibility of 60-Second Pitch and replies
TrackPiperJaff 74.38 05/22/08 05/22/08 Outperform NS $35.68+9.29%-10.07%+19.35
TrackLehmanBros 87.62 04/18/08 04/18/08 Outperform NS $33.67+15.79%-9.52%+25.31
TrackJPMorgan 93.66 04/11/08 04/11/08 Outperform NS $31.67+23.12%-7.07%+30.19
TrackRichAster 86.10 09/30/07 09/30/07 Outperform NS $25.41+53.42%-17.86%+71.28 Toggle the visibility of 60-Second Pitch and replies
TrackRodriguez 57.20 09/30/07 09/30/07 Outperform NS $25.41+53.42%-17.86%+71.28 Toggle the visibility of 60-Second Pitch and replies
TrackMatrix 90.46 05/11/07 05/11/07 Outperform NS $32.89+18.56%-16.31%+34.87
TrackJimCramer 82.43 04/26/07 04/26/07 Outperform 3W $33.35+16.91%-16.26%+33.17
TrackCreditSuiss 96.73 03/23/07 03/23/07 Outperform NS $34.01+14.64%-12.53%+27.17
TrackCLKing < 20 10/06/06 10/06/06 Outperform NS $28.31+37.73%-7.08%+44.81

Results 1 - 10 of 10  

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