Ross Stores
ROST on Nasdaq. Ross Stores sells discounted brand clothing and home goods to middle- and lower-income shoppers. Market value $72.3bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to July 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to January 2026.
Should I look at this?
Worth a closer look
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $3.90 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 20.3 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 72 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 95 of 100. Price score: 60 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$224.21 a share, 52% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $147.49 to $257.00.
Dividend: 0.7% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $18.9bn | $18.7bn | $20.4bn | $21.1bn | $22.8bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 12.3% | 10.6% | 11.3% | 12.2% | 11.9% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.60 | 0.57 | 0.51 | 0.40 | 0.25 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.34bn | 0.34bn | 0.33bn | 0.32bn | 0.32bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.25× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 12.7% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 7% fewer since 2022
The quarter to July 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $6.3 billion last quarter, up 13% on a year ago.
- Profit: $851 million, up 68% on a year ago.
- It keeps 14 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, up from 12 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $2.8 billion, up from $1.7 billion.
- 2% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- It has $3.3 billion more cash than debt, up from $2.3 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | $5.1bn |
| January 2025 | $5.9bn |
| April 2025 | $5.0bn |
| July 2025 | $5.5bn |
| October 2025 | $5.6bn |
| January 2026 | $6.6bn |
| April 2026 | $6.0bn |
| July 2026 | $6.3bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | $489m |
| January 2025 | $587m |
| April 2025 | $479m |
| July 2025 | $508m |
| October 2025 | $512m |
| January 2026 | $646m |
| April 2026 | $650m |
| July 2026 | $851m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 19 November 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 31 March 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 1 December 2026
Who owns it
8 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 9 last quarter. 1,415 funds in all.
- First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners
- Value
- $6m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fenimore Asset Management (FAM Funds)John Fox | $264m | 5.5% | Cut |
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $254m | 0.2% | Cut |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $33m | <0.1% | Added |
| EdgePoint Investment GroupTye Bousada | $20m | 0.2% | Cut |
| First Eagle Investment ManagementMatthew McLennan | $7m | <0.1% | Added |
| First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners | $6m | <0.1% | |
| Jensen Investment ManagementEric Schoenstein | $4m | <0.1% | Cut |
| GMOJeremy Grantham | $2m | <0.1% | Cut |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$5.9bnAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$4.5bn
- State Street$3.1bnAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$3.1bnAdded
- Invesco$2.6bn
- FMR$2.3bnAdded
- Bank of America$2.0bn
- Primecap Management$1.9bn
- JPMorgan Chase$1.8bnCut
- Geode Capital Management$1.7bnCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor8.0%+1.1 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.5%Since 31 March 2026
- JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2025
- T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 8.0%+1.1 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.5% | 31 March 2026 | |
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2025 | |
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 7 sold $24m, $5m of it under preset trading plans.
- Brinkley Stephen CPRESIDENT, OPERATIONSSold
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 6,424
- Price
- $229.66
- Value
- $1m
- Conroy James GrantCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DirectorSold
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 49,205
- Price
- $229.48
- Value
- $11m
- Sheehan William W IIEVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSold
- Date
- 26 March 2026
- Shares
- 4,883
- Price
- $216.95
- Value
- $1m
- Sykes KarenPRESIDENT, CMO DD'S DISCOUNTSSold
- Date
- 25 March 2026
- Shares
- 5,506
- Price
- $213.40
- Value
- $1m
- Hartshorn Michael J.GROUP PRESIDENT, COO, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 25 March 2026
- Shares
- 15,813
- Price
- $214.91
- Value
- $3m
- Fleming KarenPRES, CMO ROSS DRESS FOR LESSSold
- Date
- 24 March 2026
- Shares
- 7,000
- Price
- $212.76
- Value
- $1m
- Brinkley Stephen CPRESIDENT, OPERATIONSSold
- Date
- 24 March 2026
- Shares
- 4,154
- Price
- $212.91
- Value
- $884,428
- Hartshorn Michael J.GROUP PRESIDENT, COO, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 24 March 2026
- Shares
- 6,061
- Price
- $214.52
- Value
- $1m
- Sykes KarenPRESIDENT, CMO DD'S DISCOUNTSSold
- Date
- 10 March 2026
- Shares
- 2,556
- Price
- $213.91
- Value
- $546,754
- Mueller Patricia HDirectorSold
- Date
- 10 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,881
- Price
- $213.13
- Value
- $400,898
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 September 2026 | Brinkley Stephen C PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS | Sold | 6,424 | $229.66 | $1m |
| 14 September 2026 | Conroy James Grant CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, Director | Sold | 49,205 | $229.48 | $11m |
| 26 March 2026 | Sheehan William W II EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold | 4,883 | $216.95 | $1m |
| 25 March 2026 | Sykes Karen PRESIDENT, CMO DD'S DISCOUNTS | Sold | 5,506 | $213.40 | $1m |
| 25 March 2026 | Hartshorn Michael J. GROUP PRESIDENT, COO, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 15,813 | $214.91 | $3m |
| 24 March 2026 | Fleming Karen PRES, CMO ROSS DRESS FOR LESS | Sold | 7,000 | $212.76 | $1m |
| 24 March 2026 | Brinkley Stephen C PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS | Sold | 4,154 | $212.91 | $884,428 |
| 24 March 2026 | Hartshorn Michael J. GROUP PRESIDENT, COO, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 6,061 | $214.52 | $1m |
| 10 March 2026 | Sykes Karen PRESIDENT, CMO DD'S DISCOUNTS | Sold | 2,556 | $213.91 | $546,754 |
| 10 March 2026 | Mueller Patricia H Director | Sold | 1,881 | $213.13 | $400,898 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.