Retail Winners & Losers: Wal-Mart

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%. ...