Despite all the gloomy talk about private equity, we are still seeing deals. For example, today Deb Shops (NASDAQ: DEBS) announced that it is selling out for $27.25 or $395 million. The buyer is Lee Equity Partners and the debt financing will come from Barclays Capital.

Deb Shops is a specialty retailer with a focus on juniors (both regulator and plus sizes). There are 337 stores across 42 states.

And it looks like a good deal. After all, the valuation is about one times revenues.

What's more, Lee Equity is bringing Allen Questrom on as the non-executive chairman. He is a highly experienced retail executive and was formerly the CEO of J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP).

Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) advised Deb Shops on the transaction. As for Lee Equity, it used the services of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC).

In today's trading, Deb Shops' shares are up only $0.18 to $26.86.

To see some other recent M&A deals, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Quantitative analyst and editor of OTC Insight, Jim Collins sees opportunity in Steve Madden (NASDAQ: SHOO), a shoe designer whose products are distributed through department and specialty stores, its 95 retail shops and its e-commerce site.

Fundamentally, Collins is attracted to a recent new product launch known as the "Design your Own" collection, which lets buyers choose between the size of the heels and the patterns, materials, finishings and colors to customize their own shoes. Collins points out that there are a total of 4,221 possible combinations.

Technically, Collins looks to the stock's very high relative strength ranking of 98 out of 100 as well as its solid score of 'B' for accumulation-distribution. He does caution that the company is exposed to fashion risk, which he notes can be difficult to predict. Despite these risks, he has selected the issue as his latest featured investment.

Validea has an unusual approach to stock selection; editor John Reese assesses companies based on the strategies employed by "legendary investors." In the case of his latest buy, Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL), the stock was chosen based on the value methodology used by Benjamin Graham (Warren Buffett's mentor) and Peter Lynch.