Ross 2010 Annual Report Download - page 15

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 15 of the 2010 Ross annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 74

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74

13
Available Information
The internet address for our corporate website is www.rossstores.com. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statements, and amendments to those reports are made available free of charge
on or through the Investors section of our corporate website promptly after being electronically fi led with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. The information found on our corporate website is not part of this, or any other report or regulatory fi ling
we fi le with or furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fi scal 2010, and information we provide in our Annual Report to Stockholders, press
releases, telephonic reports, and other investor communications, including those on our corporate website, may contain forward-
looking statements with respect to anticipated future events and our projected fi nancial performance, operations and competitive
position that are subject to risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking
statements and our prior expectations and projections. Refer to Management’s Discussion and Analysis for a more complete
identifi cation and discussion of “Forward-Looking Statements.”
Our fi nancial condition, results of operations, cash fl ows, and the performance of our common stock may be adversely affected
by a number of risk factors. Risks and uncertainties that apply to both Ross and dd’s DISCOUNTS include, without limitation, the
following:
We are subject to the economic and industry risks that affect large retailers operating in the United States.
Our business is exposed to the risks of a large, multi-store retailer, which must continually and effi ciently obtain and distribute a
supply of fresh merchandise throughout a large and growing network of stores. These risk factors include:
• An increase in the level of competitive pressures in the apparel or home-related merchandise industry.
• Changes in the level of consumer spending on or preferences for apparel or home-related merchandise.
• The potential impact from the macro-economic environment and uncertainty in fi nancial and credit markets including but not
limited to interest rates, recession, infl ation, defl ation, energy costs, tax rates and policy, unemployment trends, and fl uctuating
commodity costs.
• Changes in geopolitical conditions.
• Unseasonable weather trends that could affect consumer demand for seasonal apparel and apparel-related products.
• A change in the availability, quantity, or quality of attractive brand-name merchandise at desirable discounts that could impact
our ability to purchase product and continue to offer customers a wide assortment of merchandise at competitive prices.
• Potential disruptions in the supply chain that could impact our ability to deliver product to our stores in a timely and cost-
effective manner.
• A change in the availability, quality, or cost of new store real estate locations.
• A downturn in the economy or a natural disaster in California or in another region where we have a concentration of stores or a
distribution center. Our corporate headquarters, Los Angeles buying offi ce, two distribution centers, and 26% of our stores are
located in California.