Is Ross Stores Stock Underperforming the Nasdaq?

Core Insights - Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) is a leading off-price retailer with a market cap of $57.8 billion, operating under the Ross Dress for Less and dd's DISCOUNTS brands [1] - ROST has a total of 1,831 Ross stores and 355 dd's DISCOUNTS stores, offering discounts of 20% to 60% on brand-name merchandise, which attracts value-conscious shoppers [2] Financial Performance - ROST reported Q3 results with an EPS of $1.58, exceeding Wall Street expectations of $1.40, and revenue of $5.6 billion, surpassing forecasts of $5.4 billion [5] - The company expects full-year EPS to be between $6.38 and $6.46 [5] Stock Performance - Over the past three months, ROST stock gained 17.4%, outperforming the Nasdaq Composite's 10% gains [3] - On a six-month basis, ROST shares rose 24.7%, outperforming the Nasdaq's 21.7% gains, but the stock climbed only 13.6% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming the Nasdaq's 20.7% returns [4] - ROST has been trading above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since late July and early August, respectively, indicating a bullish trend [4] Competitive Landscape - In the competitive apparel retail space, The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) has shown resilience with an 18.9% increase over the past 52 weeks, while ROST's six-month gains were 16.8% [6] - Wall Street analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating for ROST, with a mean price target of $182.33, suggesting a potential upside of 2.7% from current price levels [6]