Retail Winners: Hot Topic, Barnes & Noble

Retailer shares are rallying after better-than-expected March retail sales figures.
By Jeanine Poggi ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Retailer shares rallied Wednesday following the release of better-than-expected

March retail sales figures

.

The Commerce Department said retail sales last month grew 1.6%, a sharper gain than the 1.2% analysts were anticipating. The news was enough to send the S&P retail Index up 0.9% to 476.72 in afternoon trading Wednesday.

Hot Topic's

( HOTT) stock was among the biggest gainers, soaring 13.1% to $9.59. The goth-inspired retailer said at an industry conference hosted by Telsey Advisory Group that all of its core businesses are seeing improvement and that its quarter-to-date same-store sales have not weakened despite the shift in the Easter holiday.

As a result, Wall Street Strategies upped its price target on the stock to $11 from $7.50.

Shares of

Barnes & Noble

(BKS) - Get Report

were advancing 5.4% to $23.18 Wednesday on rumors that the bookstore chain was the target of a leveraged buyout.

Rival

Borders

( BGP) also saw its shares rise, gaining 3.8% to $3.01.

Croc's

(CROX) - Get Report

continued its recent upswing following Thomas Weisel's upgrade of the stock (to overweight from market weight) on Tuesday.

Analyst Jim Duffy said in a note that consumers are responding to new spring products. He believes Croc's new strategy for merchandise, which includes making its offerings more cohesive, and expanding the selling season, will allow for growth in 2011.

Shares of the footwear maker leapt 5.7% to $10.35 in afternoon trading.

Amazon

(AMZN) - Get Report

shares were increasing 2.7% to $143.91 after the company said it's reducing the size of its board to seven from eight, choosing not to replace John Doerr, who said he was stepping down last month.

Other notable gainers include

Saks

(SKS)

, which was climbing 4.3% to $9.71, and the troubled

Blockbuster

( BBI), which was bouncing 6.1% to 30 cents.

Sears'

(SHLD)

stock was also in the green, up 2.9% to $109.45, flirting with its 52-week high.

--Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.

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