Contrasting Ross Stores (ROST) and Its Competitors

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) is one of 285 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialty Retail” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Ross Stores to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ross Stores and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ross Stores	$22.75 billion	$2.15 billion	27.75
Ross Stores Competitors	$7.00 billion	$390.09 million	17.31

Ross Stores has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Ross Stores is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Ross Stores and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ross Stores	0	6	15	0	2.71
Ross Stores Competitors	3544	15301	21280	552	2.46

Ross Stores currently has a consensus price target of $263.76, indicating a potential upside of 15.06%. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies have a potential upside of 11.44%. Given Ross Stores’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ross Stores is more favorable than its rivals.

Dividends

Ross Stores pays an annual dividend of $1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores pays out 21.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.0% and pay out 35.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Ross Stores has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Ross Stores and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ross Stores	10.85%	39.29%	15.79%
Ross Stores Competitors	-3.48%	-30.19%	3.19%

Risk and Volatility

Ross Stores has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ross Stores’ rivals have a beta of 1.78, suggesting that their average stock price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.9% of Ross Stores shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.0% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Ross Stores shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.0% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ross Stores beats its rivals on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About Ross Stores

Ross Stores, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores under the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS brand names in the United States. Its stores primarily offer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions. The company’s Ross Dress for Less stores sell its products at department and specialty stores to middle income households; and dd’s DISCOUNTS stores sell its products at department and discount stores for households with moderate income. Ross Stores, Inc. was incorporated in 1957 and is headquartered in Dublin, California.