“As Barbara mentioned, this reflects our continued expectation for sales and profitability to improve as we move through the balance of the year.”

In context

“assumptions for the second quarter of 2022 include the following: Total sales are forecast to decline 1% to 4% versus the prior year. We plan to open 29 locations in the second quarter, including 21 Ross and 8 dd's DISCOUNTS locations. Operating margin for the second quarter is planned to be in the 10.4% to 10.8% range, down from 2021 due to deleverage on lower same-store sales and ongoing expense headwinds that are expected to continue through the first half of 2022. Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $15 million. The tax rate is projected to be about 25%, and diluted shares outstanding are expected to be approximately 348 million. For the full year, we are now planning comparable store sales to decline 2% to 4% and earnings per share in the range of $4.34 to $4.58. As Barbara mentioned, this reflects our continued expectation for sales and profitability to improve as we move through the balance of the year. Now I will turn the call back to Barbara Rentler for closing comments. Barbara Rentler: Thank you, Adam. Looking ahead, while the landscape in early 2022 has been tougher than expected and the year may prove to be more difficult than initially anticipated, we remain confident in our ability to successfully navigate through this period. We have shown in the past that our value-focused business model has served us well in both healthy and more uncertain external climates and believe the current challenging conditions will be no different. Despite the slower-than-expected start to 2022, we operate in an attractive sector of retailing. Our mission continues to be delivering the best bargains possible to leverage our favorable market position. As demonstrated by our long successful track r”