Retail Madness: Sweet 16 Stocks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Retailers went head-to-head in TheStreet's March Madness tournament, with Aeropostale(ARO) winning the title.

Looking at March retail sales results, TheStreet paired off stocks in its Sweet 16, which include: Abercrombie & Fitch(ANF), Aeopostale, American Eagle Outfitters(AEO), Buckle(BKE), Macy's(M), J.C. Penney(JCP), Nordstrom(JWN), Saks(SKS), Target(TGT), Fred's(FRED), Costco(COST), BJ's Wholesale(BJ), TJX(TJX), Ross Stores(ROST), Gap(GPS) and Limited Brands(LTD).

Unsurprisingly, laggards like Abercrombie & Fitch and J.C. Penney were knocked out in the first round, as both failed to meet Wall Street's forecasts.

As much as it continues to slash prices, Abercrombie cannot compete on value against Aeropostale. And J.C. Penney, even with some new exclusive fashion lines, isn't seeing as much success as Macy's is with its "My Macy's" localization efforts, which tailors merchandise to each market.

Even so, J.C. Penney still upped its first-quarter guidance to a range of 20 cents to 24 cents a share, from prior outlook of 16 cents to 20 cents a share.

High-end department store Saks was also eliminated early on when pinned against Nordstrom, but still had a good showing, with same-store sales surging 12.7%, significantly better than the 8% forecast.

Gap's 1969 jeans are no match for Victoria Secret's Pink line. While Gap reported an impressive 11% climb in comparable sales, easily topping forecasts of 3.7%, it could not compete with Limited Brands' 15% spike, and fell off TheStreet's bracket in the first round.