Retail giant Target Corp. (TGT) reported its fourth quarter results this morning, and a strong holiday shopping season helped boost profit by 11%.

The company reported earnings of $1.38 per share, slightly lower than the $1.40 that analysts had been expecting. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 per share.

Tuesday morning, Sears Holding (SHLD) released a bit of good and a bit of bad news. Let's start with the bad news.

The retailer announced that its same-store sales dropped 1.7% during December. The company's eponymous Sears stores saw December same-store sales fall 6%, more than offsetting Kmart's 2% growth. The firm blamed the sales drop at Sears on a major decline in sales of consumer electronics, along with appliances and tools.

Thursday afternoon, Gap (GPS) reported that its third-quarter earnings increased 9% compared to a year ago.

In the most recent quarter, the retailer earned 48 cents per diluted share compared to 44 cents per diluted share a year ago. The company's net earnings dropped 1% to $303 million from $307 million a year ago. The company's net sales increased 2% to $3.65 billion, up from $3.59 billion a year ago. Furthermore, the company's operating income increased a percentage point to $504 million from $500 million a year ago.

Retailer Kohl's (KSS) has announced that its September same-store sales increased 3%. While this is generally good news, the increase was short of the expected increase of 3.3%. On the other hand, the company's total sales increased a respectable 5.3%.

The company also announced Thursday that it believes it will hire more than 40,000 associates during the holiday season. This estimate is a 20% increase over last year's holiday hiring (33,000 employees). These employees will work at stores, distribution centers, and credit operations, averaging 20 hours per week. Perhaps this means that the company expects to do a bit more selling this year.

Kohls (KSS - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company said Thursday morning its June same-store sales rose 5.9%, missing analysts' forecasts of 6.5%. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on KSS.

Thursday morning, KSS opened at $48.13. So far today the stock has hit a high of $48.14 and a low of $46.18. As of 12:00, KSS is trading at $46.53, down $2.00 (-4.1%). The chart for KSS looks bullish and S&P gives KSS a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO - option chain) stock is trading lower today even though the company announced this morning that its same-store sales rose 15 percent in March, beating analysts' forecasts of 10.8 percent growth. However, AEO reiterated its first-quarter earnings guidance of 15 to 17 cents per share, which is a little lower than analysts' forecasts of 17 cents per share. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on AEO.

This morning, AEO opened at $18.08. So far today the stock has hit a high of $18.15 and a low of $17.38. As of 11:35, AEO is trading at $17.59, down $1.05 (-5.6%). The chart for AEO looks neutral and S&P gives AEO a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Retailer Pier 1 Imports (PIR) issued fiscal fourth-quarter earnings forecast Thursday morning, saying it expect earnings to come in at at least 29 cents per share. A year ago, PIR lost 33 cents per share in the fourth quarter. Moreover, the consensus estimate for the retailer's quarterly earnings checks in at 25 cents per share.

This wasn't the only news from PIR, as the company forecast fourth-quarter merchandise margins of 55.7%, which is better than last year's 44.3% and the Street's expectations. PIR's same-store sales also increased by 6.5%. A true bevy of good news, but we could see the jubilation tempered by the fact that PIR predicts its fourth-quarter revenue will total $396 million while expectations call for $406.02 million.

Watch for some action out of mega-retailer Sears Holdings (SHLD), as the company placed its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimate "well above" expectations. Sears believes earnings for the current quarter will come in between $3.36 and $4.06 per share, far better than the Street's expected $2.65 per share.

The reason for the forecasting bravado is the fact that the company saw same-store sales growth during the past month thanks to strong performance from Kmart. As a matter of fact, Kmart outperformed Sears' stores in the past quarter, which it continued in the past month. Same-store sales at Kmart saw a 5.3% increase in December while Sears saw same-store sales drop 4.3%.

Retail sales results are pouring in, and one of the companies finding itself on the smiling side of the data is Costco (COST). The warehouse club reported that higher gas prices and a weak dollar helped a "key sales figure" increase 9% during December. The Street expected Costco to report an increase of 7.9%. Removing higher gasoline prices and the soft dollar from the equation resulted in a sales increase of 4%. U.S. sales increased 2% and international results increased 10%.

Costco (and other warehouse stores) turned in a solid month, as shoppers looked to stretch their dollar as far as possible. When you can go into a store and purchase 50 toilet paper rolls for a reasonable price, why wouldn't you shop at a bulk retailer?

Costco Wholesale (COST - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company announced its same-store sales rose 6.0 percent in November, missing analysts' forecasts of an 8.1 percent increase. While the fact that sales are up 6% is encouraging, November 2008 was when consumers were really cutting back, so a bigger increase would indicate that the company is back on solid footing. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on COST.

This morning, COST opened at $59.40. So far today the stock has hit a high of $59.57 and a low of $59.00. As of 11:15, COST is trading at $59.23, down $1.64 (-2.7%). The chart for COST looks neutral and S&P gives COST a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported its same-store sales rose 3.0 percent in October, well below analysts' forecasts of 13.8 percent. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on GE.

This morning, ARO opened at $34.50. So far today the stock has hit a high of $37.27 and a low of $32.05. As of 11:55, ARO is trading at $32.68, down $5.35 (-14.1%). The chart for ARO looks bullish and S&P gives ARO a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported its same-store sales slipped 0.5 percent in September. Analysts were expecting a 1 percent decline, but traders saw competitor, Costco (NASDAQ: COST) post a 1% rise in September same-store sales and wanted more from BJ. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BJ.

This morning, BJ opened at $35.90. So far today the stock has hit a high of $36.13 and a low of $35.90. As of 11:20, BJ is trading at $36.10, down 96 cents (-2.6%). The chart for BJ looks bullish and S&P gives BJ a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

September same-store sales are rolling in this Thursday morning, and the news for the teen/tween retailers may hold some hope. Leading off the clothing genre is American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO), which posted perhaps the best news in the group. Of course, by best news I mean that AEO's sales didn't drop as much as people predicted.

The retailer had flat same-store sales in September, at the top end of its forecast range for a drop of 4.1% to flat sales. Thing is, these results will probably spur a bit of a rally for the stock, mainly because they weren't as bad as they could have been.

Walgreen (NYSE: WAG - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced its September sales rose 10.3% higher than the same period last year. Same-store-sales were up 5.3%, buoyed by pharmacy increases of 7%, while other merchandise saw just a 2% gain. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on WAG.

WAG opened this morning at $38.35. So far today the stock has hit a low of $37.92 and a new 52-week high of $38.75. As of 11:45, WAG is trading at $38.21 up 2 cents (0.05%). The chart for WAG looks neutral and S&P gives WAG a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Earlier this week, Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) issued its August sales report. Kohl's hasn't been on my list of potential buys, but like I said back in May, the stock has been technically strong. I wanted to check back in with the retailer to see how things are going.

According to the press release, total net sales increased 4.8%. We don't care too much about total sales, though. We want to know what the same-store sales say about the company. That stat is way more vital for this sector. Unfortunately, comps were up a pitiful 0.2% last month, and they declined by 2.7% for the year-to-date period.