NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Supervalu (SVU)  are down by 1.42% to $6.93 in mid-morning trading on Friday, after the company's CEO announced that he will be retiring in February.

Sam Duncan, 63, became president and CEO of the grocery store chain in February 2013 and will retire at the end of the company's fiscal year on February 29, 2016.

"The company is in a better place today because of Sam's leadership. The board is very grateful and appreciative for Sam's contributions to the company," non-executive chairman Jerry Storch said in a statement yesterday.

Duncan has helped lead Supervalu to one of its most profitable periods and received a 40% pay raise earlier this year due to his efforts.

Duncan's total compensation rose to $6.92 million in 2015 from $4.95 million in 2014, according to theMinneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates SUPERVALU INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

We rate SUPERVALU INC (SVU) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations and growth in earnings per share. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and poor profit margins.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

  • SVU's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 4.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 2.7%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.
  • SUPERVALU INC has improved earnings per share by 27.8% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. This trend suggests that the performance of the business is improving. During the past fiscal year, SUPERVALU INC increased its bottom line by earning $0.46 versus $0.00 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.79 versus $0.46).
  • The gross profit margin for SUPERVALU INC is currently extremely low, coming in at 14.98%. Regardless of SVU's low profit margin, it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 1.12% trails the industry average.
  • SVU has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 17.16% from its price level of one year ago. The fact that the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings is not reason enough to justify a buy rating at this time.
  • You can view the full analysis from the report here: SVU