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Retail Winners & Losers: Macy's, Bebe
By Jeanine Poggi
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter
11/06/09 04:09 PM EST

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Retail shares are rallying a day after the sector saw its highest sales gain since June 2008.

One of the biggest gainers is Macy's (M:NYSE) , which is climbing by 5.9% to $19.09 in afternoon trading. The department store was upgraded by J.P. Morgan to overweight from neutral on a second month of improving sales.

On Thursday, the company posted a 0.8% decline in October same-store sales, as it begins to benefit from its national roll-out of its My Macy's localization initiative.

Saks (SKS:NYSE) is also gaining ground, up 3.9% to $6.13, after it announced that comparable sales for the month inched up 0.7%, significantly higher than the 3.6% decline Wall Street forecast.

Meanwhile, CVS Caremark (CVS:NYSE) is regaining some of its massive loss from yesterday, when it reported that it lost $2 billion worth of business in its pharmacy benefits-management unit.

The drugstore also said the Federal Trade Commission is investigating some of its business practices.

Thus, despite a 39% surge in third-quarter profit, shares in CVS still tanked 20% on the news. Today, however, they are growing slightly, up 2.8% to $29.69.

Whole Foods Market (WFMI:NYSE) vis rising, by 4% to $28.19, after shares tumbled earlier this week when it reported a modest sales forecast for 2010. And while CEO John Mackey said sales turned the corner and are starting to improve, his forecast of a gain of just 5% to 8% didn't impress investors.

Other notable gainers included home furnishing retailers Lowe's (LOW:NYSE) and Home Depot (HD:NYSE) , which are set to report earnings on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, respectively. Lowe's is jumping 4.3% to $20.94, while Home Depot is up 2.2% to $26.18.

Amazon (AMZN:NYSE) is also climbing, by 4.6% to $126.18, in afternoon trading.

But there were also some losers following the sales report. Fred's (FRED:NYSE) is tumbling 3.3% to $28.56 after it reported same-store sales that missed expectations.

The discounter said October comparable sales rose just 0.4%, below the 1.3% jump analysts forecast.

As a result, the company was downgraded on Friday by Webush Morgan to underperform from neutral.

Likewise, Bebe (BEBE:NYSE) is in the red after it announced that it swung to a loss in its first quarter on significantly lower sales.

During the quarter, the specialty retailer lost $4.2 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a profit of $11.2 million, or 12 cents, in the year-ago period. Revenue tanked 23% to $125.7 million, as same-store sales plunged 25.7%.

Shares of Bebe are stumbling 8.9% to $5.95 in afternoon trading.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York

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