Winners & Losers

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Retail Winners & Losers: Wal-Mart

The Associated Press

Updated from 1:23 p.m. ET NEW YORK -- Discounters may have outperformed the broadline sector for most of the year, but department stores fared better in December in terms of stock price, an analyst said Friday.

Barclays Capital analyst Robert Drbul said in a note to investors Friday that in December, department store shares rose about 18%. Overall, shares of broadline retailers -- retailers with big-box stores and a variety of merchandise -- rose about 12% during the month.

For the most part, however, it was a dismal year for retailers, although shares performed in line with the S&P 500. Shares fell about 38.4% during the year while the S&P 500 index lost 38.5%. The S&P 500 retail index fell 32.9%.

The top performer was Wal-Mart (WMT Quote), which saw shares rise 20%. BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ Quote) shares rose 1.4%. Luxury retailers were among the worst performers, with Saks (SKS Quote) shares shedding 79%.

However, during the crucial holiday season in December, discount department-store operator Stage Stores (STS Quote) shares performed the best, up 44%, with Macy's (M Quote) close behind, up nearly 42%. Luxury retailer Tiffany (TIF Quote) shares rose 20% in December.

Shares mainly advanced on Friday, the first trading day of the year.

Wal-Mart shares gained $1.12 to $57.18 at the end of midday trading, while Macy's shares rose 63 cents, or 6.1%, to $10.98. Saks shares added 67 cents to $5.05 and Tiffany shares rose $1.91, or 8.1%, to $25.54.

One exception was BJ's. Its shares lost 75 cents, or 2.2%, to $33.51.