Ross Stores, Inc. vs Target Corporation: Strategic Comparison

This in-depth comparison examines Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation across revenue, market value, business model, competitive positioning, and long-term growth strategy. Whether you are researching Ross Stores, Inc. on its own, evaluating Target Corporation, or weighing the two companies side by side, the breakdown below highlights where each company leads and where the gap between Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation is widest.

On the headline numbers, annual revenue is $22.8B (FY2025) for Ross Stores, Inc. and $104.8B (FY2025) for Target Corporation, while their respective market capitalizations stand at $73.7B and N/A. Both Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation are headquartered in United States. Their local markets and applicable rules may still differ.

Ross Stores, Inc.: Ross Stores runs two off-price chains. Ross Dress for Less sells name-brand apparel, footwear and home fashions at 20% to 60% below department and specialty store regular prices. dd's DISCOUNTS targets a more moderate-income shopper with savings of 20% to 70% versus moderate department and discount store regular prices. Both operate in strip centers and rely on fast-changing assortments rather than e-commerce. The company is headquartered in Dublin, California.

Target Corporation: Target is a retailer whose value comes from making mass retail feel curated. The business is strongest when stores, digital channels, owned brands and fulfillment services reinforce one another. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation pursue distinct approaches to generating revenue, and understanding how each company operates is the foundation of any fair comparison between Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation.

Ross Stores, Inc. business model: Ross earns nearly all revenue from in-store merchandise sales at Ross Dress for Less and dd's DISCOUNTS. More than 800 merchants buy branded apparel, footwear, home goods and accessories from manufacturer overruns, canceled orders and closeouts. Part of that buying is held as packaway inventory for later seasons. Stores are self-service with simple fixtures in strip centers, which keeps occupancy and labor costs low, and assortments change constantly so shoppers return often. Ross does not sell merchandise online.

Target Corporation business model: Target runs a general-merchandise, big-box retail model that pairs low-margin essentials (groceries, household basics) to drive store traffic with higher-margin discretionary categories (apparel, home decor, and private-label brands) to drive profit -- the classic 'basket size' strategy. Owned and exclusive brands make up a large share of sales and carry better margins than national brands, a strategy Target has leaned on more heavily to compete with Walmart's scale and Amazon's convenience. Digital and same-day fulfillment, built around the 2017 Shipt (about $550 million) and Grand Junction acquisitions, let Target use its stores as fulfillment hubs -- a model that became central to growth during the pandemic and remains core to its omnichannel strategy today. FY2025 revenue was $104.780 billion, continuing a decline from $107.412 billion in fiscal 2023, as the company worked through a sales and stock slump serious enough to trigger a CEO change; FY2026 has shown a rebound, with Q1 net sales up 6.7% and Q2 net sales up 5.3%. Non-merchandise revenue, which includes Roundel advertising, Target Circle 360 membership fees and the Target+ marketplace, grew more than 20% in Q2 FY2026, adding higher-margin income on top of merchandise sales.

The durability of a company's moat often decides long-term winners. Here is how the competitive advantages of Ross Stores, Inc. stack up against those of Target Corporation.

Ross Stores, Inc. competitive advantage: Ross's edge is buying scale plus low operating cost. A large merchant team and long vendor relationships give it access to branded closeout goods, and lean store formats let it price 20% to 60% below department store regular prices while still earning a double-digit operating margin. Staying store-only avoids the shipping and returns cost that weighs on online sellers of low-ticket apparel.

Target Corporation competitive advantage: Target's advantage is the mix of curated merchandise, owned brands, convenient stores, same-day fulfillment and a brand position between discount utility and design-led retail.

Future prospects matter as much as current results. The growth strategies below explain how Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation each plan to expand from here.

Ross Stores, Inc. growth strategy: Growth comes mainly from new stores and comparable store sales. Ross raised its 2026 opening plan to 115 locations after opening 64 in the first half. Under CEO Jim Conroy, the company has added marketing, brand-forward merchandise and in-store experience changes, and management credits traffic from both new and existing customers for the 2026 comp gains.

Target Corporation growth strategy: Target is focusing on merchandising authority, guest experience, technology acceleration, team and community strength, stores-as-hubs, same-day fulfillment, retail media and owned-brand renewal.

A closer look at the financial trajectory of Ross Stores, Inc. and Target Corporation rounds out the comparison.

Ross Stores, Inc.: Ross grew sales from $12.9 billion in fiscal 2016 to $22.8 billion in fiscal 2025, with a sharp dip to $12.5 billion in pandemic-hit fiscal 2020. Net income reached $2.1 billion in fiscal 2025. Fiscal 2026 accelerated: Q1 sales rose 21% to $6.0 billion on 17% comps, and Q2 sales rose 13% to $6.3 billion on 10% comps. Q2 net income of $851 million included about $253 million in IEEPA tariff refunds, worth roughly $0.60 per share. Ross plans to repurchase $1.275 billion of stock in fiscal 2026 under a two-year $2.55 billion authorization approved in March 2026. Ross Stores, Inc. is a major American chain of off-price department stores, commanding a market valuation typically exceeding $40 billion.

Target Corporation: Target's net sales fell from $109.120 billion in fiscal 2022 to $104.780 billion in fiscal 2025, while net earnings fell from $4.091 billion in fiscal 2024 to $3.705 billion in fiscal 2025. FY2025 operating income was $5.117 billion, a 4.9% margin; operating cash flow was $6.562 billion and capital expenditures were $3.727 billion. These are annual figures for the year ended January 31, 2026. The separate Q2 FY2026 release reports $26.539 billion of quarterly net sales, up 5.3%, with comparable sales up 3.8%. GAAP diluted EPS was $4.11, including $1.65 per share from $994 million of pretax tariff refunds. Target said EPS rose about 20% excluding those refunds. Its August outlook for FY2026 called for net-sales growth around 5% and EPS of $9.90 to $10.90, including the Q2 refund benefit; guidance is a company forecast, not a completed-year result.