Here's a fun thing that happens sometimes: a company announces a new CFO, and its stock goes up. That's what happened with Chewy Inc. (CHWY) this week, even as the broader market for consumer discretionary stocks was having a bit of a rough day.

The pet products e-tailer said on Tuesday it's bringing in Chris Deppe as its new finance chief. Deppe isn't just any finance executive; he's coming straight from Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), where he spent over 16 years in senior finance roles. His resume includes leading large-scale cost optimization and strategic planning efforts—exactly the kind of experience you'd want if you're trying to run a tight ship in the competitive world of online retail.

Chewy's move is being seen as a step to strengthen its financial foundation and drive long-term value. In other words, they're bringing in an Amazon veteran to help them execute more efficiently. The market seemed to like the idea, with Chewy shares popping on the news.

Technical Picture: A Mixed Bag

Let's talk about the stock's recent journey. Over the past year, it hasn't been a smooth ride for Chewy shareholders. The stock is down about 23% over the last 12 months. Right now, it's trading about 3.2% above its 20-day simple moving average, which suggests some short-term momentum. But here's the catch: it's still sitting about 15.7% below its 100-day moving average. That tells you there's been a longer-term downtrend, and while there might be a little bounce happening, the bigger picture still looks challenging.

Standing Out in a Weak Sector

What makes Chewy's move on Thursday interesting is the context. The entire Consumer Discretionary sector—the group of stocks that includes companies selling non-essential goods—was in the red, down about 0.21%. Chewy, meanwhile, was up 4.37%. That's a pretty clear signal that investors were reacting to something specific about Chewy, not just riding a sector wave. In fact, the sector itself has been struggling, down nearly 5% over the last month and about 1% over the last quarter, making it the fifth-best performer out of eleven sectors. Not exactly a hotbed of activity.

What Are the Analysts Saying?

The next big date on the calendar is March 25, 2026, when Chewy is scheduled to report earnings. The current estimates tell a story of their own. Analysts are expecting earnings per share of 20 cents, which is down from the previous estimate of 28 cents. Revenue, however, is expected to be slightly higher at $3.26 billion, up from $3.25 billion. The stock also carries a pretty rich valuation, trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 54 times. That's what finance people call a "premium valuation," meaning investors are paying a lot for each dollar of earnings, presumably because they expect strong growth in the future.

The overall analyst consensus is still bullish. The average price target sits at $45.33, and the stock carries a Buy rating. Some recent moves by big firms include:

• Raymond James: Upgraded the stock to Outperform with a $28 target on February 19.
• Morgan Stanley: Maintains an Overweight rating and raised its target to $51 on January 13.
• Goldman Sachs: Has a Buy rating and raised its target to $52 back on December 11, 2025.

The Peer Pressure Is Real

Here's where the story gets a bit tougher for Chewy. Over the past year, the company has significantly underperformed its peer group. While Chewy's stock fell nearly 23%, the average gain for its peers in the retail catalog and mail-order space was over 11%. That's a performance gap of more than 34 percentage points. It puts Chewy at the bottom of its peer group, highlighting that the company's challenges might be more specific to it than to the industry it operates in.

This divergence suggests Chewy might need to do some serious strategic thinking to catch up to the positive trajectory its competitors are enjoying. Bringing in an Amazon veteran for financial discipline could be the first step in that reassessment.

At the time of publication on Thursday, Chewy shares were up 2.63%, trading at $27.15.