Kids from age five to 25 have started heading back to school. But according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), that doesn’t mean the back-to-school shopping has ended. The data show lots of dollars still waiting to be spent. According to an Aug. 20 NRF press release, an average K-12 family has completed just less than half of their shopping so far (49.9%) and only 23.4% of the families with college-aged children are finished shopping. The reasons given: Consumers are still waiting for the best end-of-season sales, and kids want to see what their friends are buying before getting all of their back-to-school gear. With lots of shopping left, here are three stocks that stand to gain from back-to-school purchases. Once left for dead, now on the rebound The biggest retail stock disaster story of 2013 was certainly J.C. PenneyJCP, -2.41% The bedraggled company lost over 50% of its value, and that came after an almost equally disastrous 2012. After its failed “reinvention,” JCP has turned the corner with improving sales and earnings reports. While the fundamental side of the stock still shows a heavy debt load to service, multiple quarters of outperformance have moved the company off of Wall Street’s list of potential liquidity problems. A strong back-to-school season will help. From the technical side, the chart below shows three very supportive indications of continued upside for this recovering whipping boy. The reversal gap from February held during the April retestThe move back above the frequently watched 200-day moving average has held for over two monthsAfter several months of sideways consolidation, the breakout above the November 2013 and May 2014 swing highs (key resistance levels) is a significant sign of intermediate strength. The aggressive three- to six-month upside target for JCP is the 14.00 swing high from Sept 2013. The broad appeal of budget fashion Next on the list is the budget side of the retail apparel house and a company that blew away even their own earnings expectations just a couple of weeks ago — TJX Companies TJX, +1.39% whose best-known holdings are fashion discounters TJ Maxx and Marshalls. The company’s continued growth and long-term record of exceeding earnings expectations (as they have done 28 out of the last 39 quarters according to WhisperNumber) gives them strong fundamental support. This is another rebound story of a retail stock that has seen price pull back during 2014. However, their recent great earnings announcement and strong forward guidance shows that there is even more upside to the name. The technical side shows more room to run the upside as well. The chart below exhibits a few promising characteristics. After the strong earnings report, TJX broke above the two key levels: First, the old support area from April-May that served as a Wyckoff “ice level,” and second, the 200-day moving average. These levels now act as downside support..The large earnings-based price move up serves as the pole for a classic charting continuation pattern known as a bullish flag. The “fabric” of the flag is the five-day (and counting) sideways move at the right edge of the chart.Two indicators confirm a $64.50 price target. The pole of the flag formation (distance travelled on the earnings day) gives us a measured move up and the January 2014 highs confirm, showing us a potential for another 10% move up into the Christmas-buying season. Apple is about to send a get-well card Best Buy BBY, -1.69% is a company that many analysts keep trying to write off. By the start of 2013, the stock had been beaten down to a mere $15. It responded by tripling in price by Christmas of 2013. It has had its ups and downs in 2014, but there is an ace-in-hole coming up when the much anticipated iPhone 6 is launched. The fundamental outlook has two big positives. First, Piper Jaffray analysts estimate that 10% of all iPhone 6 sales in the U.S. will come through Best Buy stores. That alone is enough to raise same-store comparable sales figures by 1%- 2% per store. Second, the National Retail Federation estimates that back-to-school spending for K-12 families will actual decline year-over-year. However, spending of families with college-aged students are expected to grow 5.7% this year, with electronics contributing to much of the spending for this age group. That sets up a brick-and-mortar retailer like Best Buy to capture a good share of this spend. On the technical side, BBY has some strong support that should hold up the stock and allow it seek higher levels. The old resistance level from January, February and April of this year is now a key support level under current price actionThe 100-day exponential moving average has also been providing support for the last three monthsThese strong support levels set up a classic “up or out” trade into year-end. If price drops below 28.00, then exit the trade for a 6% risk. The upside target is a close of the January 2014 gap down or around 36.00. This presents a trade with a very appealing reward-to-risk ratio. Back-to-school purchases are estimated to be $75 billion in the U.S. by the National Retail Federation. That is a figure that’s hard to ignore. These three stocks provide a diversified way to tap into that “big spend” over the next few months.via marketwatch