Ross profit tops view

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ross Stores Inc (ROST.O) said quarterly profit rose a better-than-expected 18 percent on inventory management and cost-cutting, but it trimmed its holiday forecast as even bargain-hungry shoppers cut back amid a global financial meltdown.

The off-price retailer said on Wednesday net income rose to $57.3 million, or 44 cents a share, in the third quarter ended November 1, from $48.7 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected 43 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, were little changed from a year earlier.

Like other off-price retailers such as TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N), Ross buys excess apparel, accessories and home goods in bulk from manufacturers at prices that can be up to 60 percent below wholesale.

"Based on the increasingly difficult macro-economic and retail climate and our expectation of a very promotional holiday season, we believe it is prudent to adopt a more conservative outlook for the fourth quarter," Ross Chief Executive Michael Balmuth said in a statement.

Ross said it now expects a fourth-quarter profit of 69 cents to 75 cents per share, down from a previous view of 78 cents to 81 cents. Analysts on average were looking for 76 cents per share.

Ross forecast fourth-quarter same-store sales would fall 1 percent to 3 percent.

It forecast full-year earnings of $2.26 to $2.32 per share, down from a previous view of $2.33 to $2.38. Analysts, on average, were expecting $2.31.

Ross previously reported that third-quarter sales rose 6 percent to $1.56 billion, and October same-store sales fell 2 percent.

(Reporting by Sarah Coffey; editing by John Wallace)