MW Kroger finally names a new CEO, and why investors like the pick

By Tomi Kilgore

Stock surges toward a six-month high, as newly named CEO Greg Foran was well respected by Wall Street during his time as CEO of Walmart U.S.

Greg Foran, the former leader of Walmart U.S., was named to be Kroger's new CEO after a nearly yearlong search.

Shares of Kroger surged Monday trading, as investors cheered that, after an extensive search, the grocery giant has finally found its new CEO.

The person Kroger $(KR)$ picked was Greg Foran. Although he hasn't been in the grocery business for the past six years - he was running Air New Zealand from 2020 to 2025 - Foran led Walmart's $(WMT)$ U.S. business for six years, from 2014 through 2019.

During that time, he oversaw the acceleration of Walmart U.S.'s digital business, including the introduction of online ordering and pickup.

Evercore ISI analyst Michael Montani said he believes Foran "brings instant credibility" to Kroger, after demonstrating success at turning around Walmart U.S. store operations.

"As head of Walmart U.S. he drove five years of positive comps following several years of mired operations," Montani wrote in a note to clients. "Comps" refers to comparable sales, or sales of stores open at least a year.

The announcement comes nearly a year after Kroger's CEO at the time, Rodney McMullen, resigned suddenly after 11 years in charge following an investigation into his personal conduct.

Foran's appointment is effective immediately. Ron Sargent, who had been interim CEO since March 2025, will continue as chairman.

Kroger's stock jumped 6% in recent morning trading, which puts it on track for its best day since it ran up 9.8% on June 20, 2025. The stock was also headed for its highest close since Aug. 20.

Kroger has been struggling for a while, as quarterly sales have missed Wall Street's expectations in the past six quarters and in 10 of the past 12 quarters. Those struggles encompassed the time since Kroger's $25 billion deal to buy rival Albertsons was terminated in December 2024, more than two years after it was announced.

There's reason for investors to cheer Foran's appointment. When Walmart announced in October 2019 that he would be leaving, Edward Yruma, then an analyst at KeyBanc, said he had been "instrumental in the success of Walmart U.S.," as the latest readings on same-store sales were the highest in 10 years.

Yruma said that Foran was responsible for making many changes with the fresh side of the business that allowed Walmart U.S. to take market share in grocery.

Evercore ISI's Montani also noted that at Walmart U.S., Foran made the decision that margins were too high, meaning the company was making too much money on its sales. Instead, he lowered the margins by a couple percentage points and spent that extra money to lower prices and on store employees, which helped the business to better compete and gain market share.

While Montani acknowledged that Kroger doesn't have the margins that Walmart U.S. did to be able to make the same moves, he'll likely be able to improve store operations to attract more customers.

"Greg strikes us as a genuine leader who actively seeks feedback from the store operations teams and will look to implement their practical advice inside the stores," Montani wrote.

Kroger's stock has gained 10.1% over the past 12 months, while the State Street Consumer Staples SPDR ETF XLP has rallied 10.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 15%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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February 09, 2026 09:47 ET (14:47 GMT)

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