Retail Winners & Losers: Macy's, Bebe

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), 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) 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) 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)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) and Home Depot(HD), 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.