Home Depot (HD) – Get Report named a new president and chief operating officer — Edward Decker, who currently is its executive vice president of merchandising.
Decker, 57, earlier had held the post of senior vice president of retail finance, pricing analytics, and assortment planning at the Atlanta home-improvement chain. He joined Home Depot in 2000. The president and COO positions are new at Home Depot.
Home Depot shares recently traded $276.56, down 0.4%, on a down day on Wall Street. The stock has advanced 55% over the past six months as consumers, locked down during the pandemic, put a lot into fixing up their homes.
In addition to Decker’s appointment, Ann-Marie Campbell has been named executive vice president of U.S. stores and international operations. She adds responsibility for all operations, business functions and strategy for the Canada and Mexico businesses.
And Jeff Kinnaird has been named executive vice president of merchandising, reporting to Decker. He was previously president of Home Depot Canada.
Morningstar analyst Jaime Katz is bullish on Home Depot.
It “continues to benefit from a still stable housing market along with improvements in its merchandising and distribution network,” she wrote in a commentary last month.
“Its flexible distribution network will help elevate the firm’s brand intangible asset, with faster time to delivery improving the do-it-yourself … experience and market delivery centers catering to the pro business.
“The success of ongoing initiatives should set the operating margin back on an improving trajectory in 2022, as investments wind down.”
Katz nonetheless sees the stock as overvalued, putting its fair value at $200.
