Healthier U.S. consumers bode well for retail stocks: Barron's

Optimism about a strong holiday sales season in the United States led Barron's to tout nine retail store stocks in its November 25 edition.

Although there are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and the S&P Retail Select Industry index is up 42 percent year to date, retail store trade group NRF forecast that sales this year should rise 3.9 percent over last year.

That led reporter Jacqueline Doherty to write that "good shoppers can always find bargains" in the stock market.

Barron's list of potential winners are: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc , Home Depot Inc , Macy's Inc , Coach Inc , Chico's FAS Inc , Urban Outfitters Inc , Dollar General Corp , Dillards Inc and Kohl's Corp .

The paper said the particularly dramatic rise in the stock price and price-to-earnings ratios of Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc and Michael Kors Holding Ltd suggest "limited" future advances in those stocks.

(Reporting By Jed Horowitz; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)