LOWE’S COMPANIES INC., $95.83, symbol LOW on New York, is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world (after Home Depot) with 2,152 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Lowe’s acquired Canadian chain RONA in May 2016 for $3.2 billion. Two years later, on May 22, 2018, J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison resigned to become the chief executive of Lowe’s. He replaced Robert Niblock who is retiring after 13 years in the job. Niblock’s exit came one week after three new directors joined the company’s board. That change is likely the result of pressure from activist investor D.E. Shaw & Co. It argues that Lowe’s has underperformed in recent years compared with rival Home Depot. Ellison worked at Home Depot for 14 years before leaving to take the top job at J.C. Penney in 2014. Before that, he worked at Target for 15 years. A day after Ellison took the top job at Lowe’s, activist investor Bill Ackman revealed that his Pershing…