Inventory Turnover › By Retailer › Ross Stores
Ross Stores Inventory Turnover: Off-Price Case Study
Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST), which runs 1,904 Ross Dress for Less stores and 363 dd's DISCOUNTS stores, turned its inventory 6.5x in fiscal 2025 (52 weeks ended January 31, 2026). That is about 56 days on hand, the fastest of the apparel and home retailers we track and a touch ahead of TJX. All figures are from the company's 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR.
Quick answer: Ross Stores' fiscal 2025 and 2024 10-K inventory turnover ratio
Fiscal 2025 (10-K)
6.5x for the 52 weeks ended January 31, 2026. $16,447.3M cost of goods sold over $2,537.75M average inventory ($2,444.5M opening, $2,631.0M closing). About 56 days on hand.
Fiscal 2024 (10-K)
6.6x for the 52 weeks ended February 1, 2025. $15,260.5M cost of goods sold over $2,318.35M average inventory. About 55 days on hand.
Turnover = cost of goods sold / average inventory (mean of opening and closing balance-sheet merchandise inventory). Ross's cost of goods sold includes buying, distribution, freight and occupancy costs. Figures from Ross Stores' 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR (CIK 0000745732), verified 10 November 2026.
Fiscal 2022 - fiscal 2025 turnover history
| Fiscal Year | Cost of Sales | Inv (start) | Inv (end) | Turnover | Days on Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal 2022 (ended Jan 28, 2023) | $13,946.2M | $2,262.3M | $2,023.5M | 6.5x | 56 |
| Fiscal 2023 (ended Feb 3, 2024) | $14,801.6M | $2,023.5M | $2,192.2M | 7.0x | 52 |
| Fiscal 2024 (ended Feb 1, 2025) | $15,260.5M | $2,192.2M | $2,444.5M | 6.6x | 55 |
| Fiscal 2025 (ended Jan 31, 2026) | $16,447.3M | $2,444.5M | $2,631.0M | 6.5x | 56 |
Inventory (start) equals the prior year's inventory (end). Ross names each fiscal year after the calendar year in which most of it falls. Fiscal 2023 was a 53-week year, which lifts that year's cost of goods sold and turnover.
6.5x · Year-end inventory fell 11% while cost of goods sold held roughly level, keeping turnover at 6.5x.
7.0x · The fastest year in the window. A 53-week calendar added a week of cost of goods sold to a year that began from a lean opening inventory.
6.6x · Inventory rose 12% against 3% growth in cost of goods sold, with packaway at 41% of inventory by year end.
6.5x · Sales rose 8% to $22.75B on 5% comparable growth. Inventory and cost of goods sold both grew about 8%, and packaway fell to 37% of the total.
Steady at 52 to 56 days, through four very different years
Ross's days on hand stayed between 52 and 56 across four fiscal years. Over the same stretch cost of goods sold grew from $13.9B to $16.4B, and the store base kept expanding. For a retailer selling apparel, footwear and home fashions, which are seasonal and fashion-sensitive, that is a tight band.
The reason is how Ross buys. Its 10-K describes a mix of off-price techniques: buying ahead of the season, in season and past season, much of it from manufacturer and brand overruns and cancelled orders. Buyers review assortments weekly and new merchandise reaches stores three to six times a week. Stock arrives in small, frequent drops rather than a few large seasonal loads, so the shelf stays fresh without a big inventory cushion behind it.
The one lever that pushes the other way is packaway. Ross deliberately buys and stores merchandise for later release when it can get prestige and national brands at the right price. Packaway was 41% of inventory at the end of fiscal 2024 and 37% at the end of fiscal 2025. Over fiscal 2025 inventory and cost of goods sold both grew about 8%, so turnover barely moved.
What keeps Ross near 6.5x
1. Frequent, small deliveries
New merchandise typically reaches each Ross and dd's DISCOUNTS store three to six times a week. Stores carry what is selling now, not a season's worth of backup stock, which keeps store-level inventory thin relative to sales.
2. Buying after brands overbuy
Much of Ross's merchandise comes from manufacturer and brand overruns and cancelled orders, during and at the end of a season, at prices that let Ross sell 20% to 60% below department and specialty store regular prices. Merchandise priced to sell at first ticket does not linger.
3. Packaway as a managed reserve
Packaway gives Ross access to better brands but sits in warehouses before it sells, typically for less than six months. Its share of inventory is the main swing factor in the ratio: 41% at the end of fiscal 2024, 37% a year later.
4. Cost of goods sold includes occupancy
Ross includes buying, distribution, freight and store and warehouse occupancy costs in cost of goods sold. That raises the numerator, so the ratio runs higher than a merchandise-only measure. TJX reports the same way, which makes the two directly comparable; Macy's, which keeps occupancy out of cost of sales, is not.
Where 6.5x sits among retailers
Latest 10-K inventory turnover, times per year
Each figure is cost of sales over average inventory from the company's latest 10-K. Every retailer here has its own case study; the full ranked list is on the inventory turnover by retailer page.
Ross and TJX together set the pace for apparel and home retail: 6.5x and 6.1x, against roughly 4.3x at Gap and 3.0x at Macy's in the same fiscal year. The off-price chains sell many of the same brands and categories, but at around twice the speed of the full-price stores they buy from.
Retailers built on groceries and consumables still turn faster: Walmart runs 9.3x and the warehouse clubs 11x to 13x. Within its own category Ross is close to the ceiling. For the full apparel range see the apparel turnover benchmarks.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ross Stores' inventory turnover ratio?
Ross Stores turned its inventory 6.5x in fiscal 2025, the 52 weeks ended January 31, 2026. That is $16,447.3M of cost of goods sold divided by $2,537.75M average merchandise inventory (the mean of the $2,444.5M opening and $2,631.0M closing balances) from its 10-K. It works out to about 56 days of inventory on hand.
How does Ross compare with TJX on inventory turnover?
Ross ran slightly faster: 6.5x in fiscal 2025 against TJX's 6.1x in its fiscal 2026, which covers the same twelve months to January 31, 2026. Both report cost of sales including buying, distribution and occupancy costs, so the two ratios are on a like-for-like basis. Ross is almost entirely a US off-price apparel and home business, while TJX also runs HomeGoods and international chains in Canada, Europe and Australia.
What is packaway inventory and how does it affect Ross's turnover?
Packaway is merchandise Ross buys when the deal is right and stores in its warehouses for release later, sometimes at the start of the same season the following year. Its 10-K says packaway typically stays in storage for less than six months. Packaway made up 37% of Ross's inventory at the end of fiscal 2025, down from 41% a year earlier. Because it sits on the balance sheet before it sells, a higher packaway share holds turnover down.
How is Ross's inventory turnover calculated from the 10-K?
Divide cost of goods sold by average inventory, where average inventory is the mean of the opening and closing merchandise-inventory balances on the balance sheet. Ross includes buying, distribution, freight and store occupancy costs in cost of goods sold, so its ratio runs a little higher than a pure merchandise-cost measure. For fiscal 2025: $16,447.3M / (($2,444.5M + $2,631.0M) / 2) = 6.5x.
Related
TJX Case Study
The other off-price leader, at 6.1x.
Macy's Case Study
The full-price department store, at 3.0x.
Apparel Sector
The full apparel turnover range.
Turnover by Retailer
Every case-study retailer ranked.
Days Sales of Inventory
Turn 6.5x into 56 days on hand.
Weeks of Supply
The forward-looking planning view.