Lowe's CFO Marshall Croom to retire later this year
- CFO Marshall Croom is set to retire this October, Lowe's said.
- The home improvement retailer is searching for an external candidate to replace him.
- The news comes on the heels of J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison leaving the department store to replace Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock.
Lowe's Chief Financial Officer Marshall Croom is set to retire this October, the home improvement retailer announced Monday morning.
Its stock was up more than 1.5 percent on the news.
Croom has spent more than two decades at Lowe's. His retirement comes in the midst of a major management overhaul at the company — CEO Robert Niblock is also retiring, to be replaced by J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison, effective next month.
"Lowe's has a strong finance team, and Marshall has played a significant role in helping drive financial and operational improvements as we work to enhance our position as the omni-channel project authority," Niblock said Monday in a statement.
Lowe's said it will be searching for an external candidate to replace Croom. It said it has an executive search firm helping in the process.
The North Carolina-based home improvement retailer, which faces steep competition from rival Home Depot, is also a recent target of activist investor D.E. Shaw & Co. The firm has said it's concerned about the overall performance of Lowe's relative to peers.
Lowe's has since appointed new board members following talks with Shaw.
"We are optimistic that under the direction of new senior leadership, LOW will strengthen operational disciplines and improve sales and profitability at the chain," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Brian Nagel said in a note to clients.
Lowe's shares are up a little more than 3 percent so far this year, trading around $97.50 apiece. The company has a market capitalization of roughly $80.5 billion.