Ross Stores, Inc. vs Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF — how do they compare? Ross Stores, Inc. trades at $225 (market cap $73.25B), while Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF trades at $376.45. The key difference: Ross Stores, Inc. pays a 0.78% dividend while Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF pays none, and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF is trading nearer its 52-week high, Ross Stores, Inc. nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ROST | VTI | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $73.25B | — |
Sector | Consumer Cyclical | — |
52-Week High | $255.23 | $384.30 |
52-Week Low | $144.67 | $311.68 |
Enterprise Value | $73.70B | — |
Dividend Yield | 0.78% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Ross Stores (ROST) trades at $229.31, down 0.6% on the day, showing bearish technical signals despite strong fundamental performance. The company reported three consecutive quarterly earnings beats, with Q2 2026 EPS of $2.66 beating expectations by 36%. Revenue growth accelerated to 13% in Q2 2026, with comparable store sales surging 10% driven by increased traffic and margin expansion. The stock faces technical resistance near $234 while maintaining strong analyst support with a $271.33 consensus price target.
ROST presents a compelling growth story with robust fundamentals but faces near-term technical headwinds. The company's value-focused retail strategy resonates with cost-conscious consumers, driving consistent earnings outperformance. Key risks include competitive pressures in off-price retail and macroeconomic sensitivity. With 64% of analysts maintaining buy ratings and a 19% upside to consensus targets, the stock offers growth potential for investors comfortable with current technical weakness.
VTI trades at $377.60, down 0.56% with neutral technical signals. The ETF maintains broad U.S. market exposure across 3,515 stocks with a minimal 0.03% expense ratio. Recent institutional activity includes DMC Group's $794,000 investment in Q2 2026, while technical indicators show support at $375 and resistance at $379.
Long-term outlook remains positive given historical 10% annual market returns, though concentration risk exists with top ten holdings representing one-third of assets. Market sentiment favors VTI for diversification amid potential volatility, with analysts highlighting its core portfolio role for 20-year horizons.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Ross Stores is a leading American off-price apparel and home fashion retailer, operating over 1,920 stores (at the end of fiscal 2021) across the Ross Dress for Less and dd's Discounts banners. Ross offers a variety of name-brand products and targets undercutting conventional retailers' regular prices by 20%-70%. The company uses an opportunistic, flexible merchandising approach
Read more on ROST →The fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the index, which represents approximately 100% of the investable US stock market and includes large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap stocks. It invests by sampling the index, meaning that it holds a broadly diversified collection of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full index in terms of key characteristics.
Read more on VTI →