Polo Ralph Lauren

Luxury retailers tend to be early-cycle stocks: They move in advance of other sectors. Shares in Tiffany, Coach and Polo Ralph Lauren have been been crushing the broader market for a while. But will they continue? Do these stocks make good buys now? Watch Face-Off.

In the recession that has robbed retailers of profits and growth, J.Crew has somehow managed to shine -- in the latest third quarter, the store's revenue was up 14%. According to a recent article in Forbes Woman, J.Crew's success can be boiled down to one simple secret: it makes clothes women...

You know it's an especially painful downturn when even the better-off among us stop shelling out for luxury brands. The last time we went through a recession upscale retailers like Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) actually held up pretty well. This time? Not so much. That's why the company's second-quarter...