Petco Gains Some 30% on C-Suite Shake-Up and Is Ahead 65% Since May 21

WOOF rose as much as 29.4% to a $4.05 intraday high Thursday on word that it's parting ways with two C-suite executives and replacing them with retail-industry veterans.

"Today's changes to our leadership team will accelerate Petco's initiatives to drive retail excellence as we execute on our operational reset," Interim CEO Mike Mohan said in announcing the departures of Chief Operating Officer Justin Tichy and of Amy College, WOOF's chief merchandising and supply-chain officer.

Petco is eliminating the COO role, but replacing Tichy with Abercrombie & Fitch veteran James Roth as new "chief stores officer," responsible for running all U.S. pet-care centers.

Petco also announced the promotion of Senior Vice President Shari White to "interim chief merchant" to replace Amy College. White has served at Petco for nearly seven years following work for Target, Unilever and elsewhere.

Thursday's moves represent just the latest steps in a management shake-up that saw CEO Ron Coughlin depart in March and Lululemon veteran Glenn Murphy sign on earlier this month as board executive chairman.

Wall Street seems to approve of the moves, as well as of the well-received quarterly results and forward guidance that WOOF issued on May 22.

Shares have risen some 65% from the $2.45 WOOF closed at on May 21.

However, Petco – which went public in January 2021 at $18 a share – remains more than 85% below the $28.73 that it peaked at in June of that year.