CVS Caremark executives expressed optimism going into 2013 and outlined its strategic growth framework, which leverages the company’s unique integrated model, during its annual Analyst Day held on Thursday in New York City.

Books-A-Million has named Michael Rediker as corporate development analyst.

Target will forever be associated with the weirdest Daytona 500 ever after the car it sponsors was mysteriously involved in a single car accident that caused a huge on-track fire and a two-hour delay that caused the already rained-delayed race to finish after midnight on Monday.

Many retailers reported solid sales gains for December, but the deep discounts and promotions that shoppers have come to expect cut into profits.

The latest pricing studying from Deutsche Bank analyst Charles Grom shows a basket of 50 items is still cheaper at Walmart than Target, but by a slimmer margin than in the past.

It is still very early in the holiday season and anything could happen from a pricing perspective. However, with that as a caveat, it appears Target and Walmart are in a virtual dead heat when it comes to toy pricing, according to a survey by Citigroup’s senior retail analyst Deb Weinswig.

There was a lot of negativity in the air this week regarding Walmart. Jefferies & Co. analyst Dan Binder downgraded the company on Tuesday and proceeded to appear on CNBC where he expressed concerns about company specific issues at Walmart regarding turnaround initiatives not gaining traction in the time frame he had hoped for.

Target and Macy’s get the nod from Citigroup retail analyst Deb Weinswig as top picks to fare well this back-to-school season.

At least one retail analyst saw Target’s Black Friday in July promotion last week as an exercise in creative marketing and evidence that even bigger things could be coming this fall when the retailer ends a relationship with Amazon and brings its online efforts in-house.

Walgreens’ stock was trading up 30 cents to $43.03 on the New York Stock Exchange mid-morning on Wednesday thanks to favorable same-store sales growth of 4.8% for the month of June versus an analyst consensus estimate of 2.8%.

Janney Montgomery Scott analyst David Strasser downgraded shares of Target to neutral from buy on Monday. In doing so he cited some familiar concerns about the challenging competitive environment, rising input costs and anticipated difficulties passing through price increases to cash-strapped shoppers thereby negatively affecting gross margins.