Retail Winners: AnnTaylor, Barnes & Noble

Retailers are gaining after positive news from the housing market.
By Jeanine Poggi ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Retailers are gaining for the most part Tuesday morning, as pending home sales rose in December.

One of the biggest advancers is

Barnes & Noble

(BKS) - Get Report

, after it was revealed that

Yucaipa Funds

has attempted to gain a 37% stake in the company.

Currently Yucaipa, run by investor Ron Burkle, owns 18.7% of Barnes & Noble. According to a Securities and Exchange filing, Burkle sent a letter to the company's board to get its approval to garner a 37% stake in the company. This would match the current stake hold by the controlling Riggio family.

Burkle is also asking the board to agree that increasing his stake to that size will not trigger the company's poison pill, and wants to ensure the Riggio family cannot acquire any more stock without triggering the pill.

Shares of the book retailer are surging 8.3% to $19.48 in morning trading.

AnnTaylor

(ANN)

, is spiking 13.5% to $15.20, after it upped its fourth-quarter outlook.

The women's apparel retailer said stronger sales and gross margins led earnings substantially higher than last year. AnnTaylor now expects sales of $470 million compared with previous forecast of $464.2 million. Comparable-store sales are expected to be flat, with a 7% decline at its namesake store and 2% increase at the Loft chain.

The news lifted shares of other women's retailers, including

Talbots

(TLB)

, which is gaining 8.5% to $13.28,

Coldwater Creek

(CWTR)

, which is increasing 4.4% to $4.71,

Chico's

(CHS) - Get Report

, which is up 4.7% to $13.90, and

New York & Company

(NWY)

, which is rising 1.3% to $3.89 in morning trading.

Other notable gainers include

Zale

(ZLC)

, which is growing 7.6% to $2.27 and

OfficeMax

(OMX)

, which is up 4.5% to $14.30.

But

Amazon

(AMZN) - Get Report

remains on its downward streak, after it said over the weekend that it would give in to Macmillan publishers and up prices on some of their e-book titles.

Shares of the e-retailer are sinking 3.1% to $115.25, as investors worry about what increased prices will do to sales.

The Pantry

(PTRY)

is off 3.2% to $12.95 after it swung to a bigger-than-expected loss in its first quarter.

The convenience store said it was hurt by weak fuel and grocery margins.

During the quarter, The Pantry posted a loss of $26.1 million, or $1.17 a share, compared with a profit of $38.5 million, or $1.73 a share, in the year prior.

Excluding 90 cents a share in non-cash impairment charges, the company reported a loss of 27 cents a share. Analysts expected a loss of 22 cents a share.

Revenue rose 6% to $1.74 billion.

Blockbuster

( BBI) continues to slip a day after billionaire investor

Carl Icahn

announced he is resigning from the board of directors, citing Institutional Shareholder Services guidelines regarding the number of directorships a person can hold.

Shares of Blockbuster are falling 4.2% to 46 cents in morning trading, as fears loom the end is drawing near for the company.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.

RELATED STORIES:

>>Barnes & Noble Spikes on Yucaipa Bid

>>AnnTaylor Spikes on Upped Outlook

>>Amazon Gives in to Publisher, Stock Sinks

>>Icahn Resigns from Blockbuster's Board

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