In line with its expansion target for the first quarter of fiscal 2017, off-price retailer of apparel and home accessories, Ross Stores Inc. ROST introduced 28 new stores in February and so far in March. These include 23 Ross Dress For Less and 5 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores across 15 different states.

With this, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company remains on track with its store expansion program. These store openings form part of the company’s plans to introduce nearly 70 Ross Dress For Less and 20 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores in fiscal 2017.

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader retail space include Burlington Stores, Inc. BURL , The Children’s Place, Inc. PLCE and Kate Spade & Company KATE . While Burlington Stores and Children’s Place sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Kate Spade carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Burlington Stores’ long-term EPS growth rate of 15.9% and solid positive estimate revisions over the past seven days help it to stand strong in the industry. Moreover, the company flaunts a superb earnings surprise history.

Children’s Place has an average positive earnings surprise of 36.3% in the trailing four quarters. The stock, with a long-term growth rate of 10.3%, has seen positive estimate revisions in the last 60 days.

Kate Spade, with long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth rate of 28.3%, has seen positive estimate revisions over the past 30 days.

By Zacks Equity Research

Source: Nasdaq, March 2017