March Retail (TGT) (COST) (BJ) (JCP) Sales Mixed

As expected, March retail sales were mixed today as a number of retailers reported for the month earlier in the session.

Discounters like Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and BJ's Wholesale (NYSE:BJ) soared as expected, along with high end stores like Saks (NYSE:SKS).

Limited (NYSE:LTD) was the top performer of the companies reporting today, with sales jumping 14 percent in March.

Worst in the group was Kohl's (NYSE:KSS), whose sales fell 6.5 percent last month.

Here are those retailers with sales gains in March:

Costco (COST) - up 8%; Macy's (NYSE: M) - up 0.9%; Limited (LTD) - up 14%; The Buckle (NYSE:BKE) - up 8.4%; Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) - up 8.9%; BJ's Wholesale (BJ) - up 5.3%; Saks (SKS) - up 11.1%; and Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) - up 5.1%.

Retailers which lost sales in March:

Target (NYSE:TGT) - down 5.5%; JCPenney (NYSE:JCP) - down 0.3%; Gap (NYSE:GPS) - down 10%; Kohl's (KSS) - down 6.5%; TJX (NYSE:TJX) - down 1%; and Hot Topic (Nasdaq:HOTT) - down 5%.

99 Cents Only (NYSE:NDN), Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO), American Eagle (NYSE:AEO) Named Top LBO Candidates for 2011 by Deutsche (NYSE:DB)

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) released an interesting list of takeover candidates for 2011 in the U.S retail sector, using a metric of those which would probably generate 20 percent premium or more, with their top possibilities being 99 Cents Only (NYSE:NDN), Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) and American Eagle (NYSE:AEO).

Other big names they consider leading candidates, although not as probable as the three above, were Macy's (NYSE: M), Saks (NYSE:SKS), RadioShack (NYSE:RSH), The Buckle (NYSE:BKE), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), AnnTaylor (NYSE:ANN), Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) and Gap (NYSE:GPS)

99 Cents Only closed at $15.65 Monday, gaining $0.08, or 0.51 percent. Aeropostale closed at $25.21, up $0.38, or 1.53 percent. American Eagle ended the session at $14.37, down $0.09, or 0.62 percent.