Kohl's president Dave Alves leaves after less than one year with the company. Analyst says it's a 'bad sign' for the retailer.

Kohl's Corp. and Dave Alves, president and chief operating officer, have parted ways after less than a year, according to a report filed by the company Monday morning.

Kohl's said Alves left Friday. The news, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, comes one day before Kohl's was to release its third quarter earnings and answer questions from analysts.

In February, the Menomonee Falls-based retailer announced it was hiring Alves to oversee its 1,200 stores. Alves started his position in April.

More: Kohl's Corp. reports making $58 million in Q2; marking back-to-back positive quarters

Alves is "is leaving Kohl's to pursue other opportunities. We thank Dave for his leadership and wish him all the best in his future endeavors," said Jen Johnson, Kohl's senior vice president of corporate communications, in a statement to the Journal Sentinel.

David Schwartz, analyst with Morningstar who tracks Kohl's, said the one sentence filing on Alves by the company "suggests that they didn't really want people to notice."

"It certainly looks like this is a bad sign," Schwartz said. "Clearly he was intended to be a long-term hire. So the fact that he's dismissed right before an earnings report would certainly seem to be a very bad report. And we've seen this with Kohl's in the past where executives have left rather suddenly. But it kind of makes you wonder if things are going so well for (Tom) Kingsbury as CEO."

It's unclear if Alves was fired or left voluntarily.

"It could be that the report tomorrow is going to be really bad and somebody is going to take the fall for that. It could be that he had a different vision for the company than what Kingsbury did, so they were not compatible," Schwartz said. "It's highly likely that he was fired based on this one sentence (report). It is possible that it was mutual, that can happen too."

This latest development comes a few weeks after Peter Boneparth, president of the board of directors for Kohl's, announced he was not seeking re-election after 15 years on the board.

Schwartz said it's not uncommon for a board member to move on but that development combined with the company president and COO leaving "does create some concern."

"Expectations are pretty low at this point," Schwartz said of Kohl's.

"I don't know if this necessarily means we're going to get a terrible report tomorrow from Kohl's. But it certainly doesn't provide much confidence. And if makes you wonder if the long-term strategies are now under discussions again."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kohl's president departs suddenly. Analyst said it's a 'bad sign',