Covered and cash-rich, with a 2020 suspension on the record. Ross paid $528 million against $2,208 million of free cash flow in fiscal 2025 and holds net cash. The dividend was suspended in 2020 and has risen every year since it resumed in 2021. That suspension is more than five years ago and the payout is covered, but at 0.78% the yield is under the 1% line, so the card is graded warn.
Key risk: Off-price retail lives on closeout supply and the consumer: a weak discretionary season hits earnings before it threatens this payout.
Changes if: Free cash flow payout rises above 60%, or the dividend is cut or suspended again.
- ✓Cash-flow cover 23.9% of FY2025 free cash flow, pass (<60%).
- ✓Leverage Net cash $2,576m before operating leases, pass.
- !Dividend history Dividend suspended in 2020 (no dividend declared that year), resumed in 2021 and raised every year since to $0.445. The cut is more than five years ago; it is disclosed, not hidden.
- !Yield Yield 0.78%, under the 1% line: a growth holding, not income.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.