Piper Jaffray Maintains Ross Stores Neutral, $66 PT (ROST)

Piper Jaffray maintained its Ross Stores ROST Neutral rating and $66 price target in a research note published today.

In the report, Piper Jaffray states, "Ross Stores reported FQ4 EPS of $1.37, in line with our estimate, consensus and the recent pre-announcement. Gross margin and operating margin rates were both better than our expectations, driven by strong comps and tight expense mgmt. Inventory increased 25% y/y as the company took advantage of a large amount of close-out opportunities and inventory per store increased 19%."

Shares of Ross Stores closed Thursday at $69.80, up 0.94% from Wednesday's market close.