Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman said the departure of Greg Foran from Walmart to accept the CEO job at Air New Zealand and the promotion of John Furner to become President and CEO of Walmart U.S. were unexpected, but "make sense given the circumstances." Furner has spent over 25 years in various roles and divisions of Walmart, noted Gutman, who expects "a relatively smooth handoff" and has confidence the transition "should be a clean one." He also said investors may be concerned Foran's departure could be read as a sign that Walmart U.S. is operating at peak performance, but Gutman does not believe this is the case and sees room for improvement that Furner's specific skills should help address. He keeps an Overweight rating on Walmart shares.