California-based Ross Stores, in Black's estimation, did well inits November comps by not doing as badly as expected, posting a 2%comparable store sales decrease versus the analyst's projection fora decline of 3%. "We're encouraged that things are this good whenthe environment is this bad," the report says of Ross, whichcurrently operates 588 stores, mostly in community and stripcenters. "Importantly, the near term is improving in terms ofproduct availability. Ross Stores may be able to take advantage ofbuying opportunities presented from the weakness in Novembersales."

As for American Eagle, the report noted that, among otherthings, selling over Thanksgiving weekend was robust, with comps upin the high 20s over both Friday and Saturday, and that theretailer exhibited broad-based strength across most merchandisecategories and all geographic regions. All together, the Novembercomp numbers for the Pennsylvania clothier, which operates morethan 1,000 stores in the United States and Canada, came in at 22.7%higher than the previous year, ahead of expectations.

By contrast, November sales were soft for the balance of thestores in Lehman's softline "universe," which also includesAbercrombie & Fitch, the Gap, Urban Outfitters, the Children'sPlace, Burlington Coat Factory, and TJ Maxx. For example,Abercrombie & Fitch scored a 2% overall increase in compscompared with last November, lower than expectations, but stillbetter than last year's decrease of 13% in the same month. Blacknoted that the Ohio-based retailer was led by its Hollister stores,which saw an increase of 13% over last year.