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 , 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)