Three stocks to buy on Macy's big earnings beat

A shopper looks at Michael Kors handbags at Macy's flagship store in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

With Macy's reporting better-than-expected earnings Thursday, we searched for retail stocks that outperformed the week after the department store chain beat estimates.

History shows the solid results should boost shares of other retailers in the week ahead.

Using Kensho, an analytics tool used by hedge funds, we looked for which stock components in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF outperformed the week after Macy's reported better-than-expected earnings by 5 cents or more during the last five years.