But Wayne Hood of Prudential Securities said: "They have had their run for the year.

"Operating-expense pressure remains a challenge for Wal-Mart," Wayne Hood, an analyst at Prudential Securities, wrote in a note to investors.

According to Wayne Hood, an analyst at Prudential Equity Group, Federated would probably save $200 million in the first year of a deal.

"It is a public company run as a private company," said Wayne Hood, a stock analyst for Prudential Securities.

Wayne Hood, a retail analyst at Prudential Securities, estimated that May would save $45 million, or 20 cents a share, annually from the consolidations.

"We see more and more retailers moving into private label," said Wayne Hood, a retail analyst for Prudential Securities.

"I don't think it is enough," said Wayne Hood, an analyst at Prudential Securities.

Wayne Hood, a retail analyst at Prudential Securities, said some of the slippage in the final week of October was weather-related.

Wayne Hood, a retailing analyst at Prudential Securities in Atlanta, sees personal shopping as a key strategy among high-end and mid-range department stores.

"The circulars have grown in size to look like small catalogs," said Wayne Hood, an analyst at Prudential Securities.