Less than six months after ousting its former leader, Office Depot Inc. said Monday it filled the top spot with Steve Odland, the AutoZone Inc. chief executive credited with supercharging the Memphis-based auto parts chain.

Odland’s appointment sent Office Depot’s stock up $1.56, or 8.13 percent, to close at $20.75.

Analysts who follow the Delray Beach-based office supply chain said Odland’s appointment was a smart move.

“He is a decision maker, and that will help,” said Joseph Feldman, an equity analyst at New York City-based SG Cowen & Co. who covers both firms. “It is definitely a net positive for Office Depot to pick someone like him.”

Odland will replace interim Chairman and CEO Neil Austrian, who took the reins after Bruce Nelson left in October 2004. The board’s decision was unanimous with members appreciative of Odland’s track record at several consumer and retail companies, Austrian said in an interview.

“This is somebody who at the age of 46 has accomplished an awful lot and has the energy to do it again, which we felt was very important,” Austrian said.

Odland, who could not be reached for comment, joined AutoZone in January 2001. Before that, he was chief operating officer for Ahold USA Inc. and CEO of Tops Markets Inc., an Ahold unit. Before Ahold, Odland was president of the food service division of Sara Lee Corp. and spent 16 years at The Quaker Oats Co.

Feldman, the SG Cowen analyst, said that Odland focuses on operational details. “I don’t mean just personnel-wise, but the way you get merchandise from point A to point B and then sell it,” he said.

During Odland’s tenure, AutoZone’s share price almost tripled as he expanded the number of locations by about 500 and shed a chain of truck-parts stores.

AutoZone, the largest U.S. retailer of auto parts, has now promoted Executive Vice President William C. Rhodes III to chief executive and president.

Odland joins Office Depot at a pivotal time.

Under Nelson, Office Depot began a crucial expansion into the Staples Inc.-dominated northeast with the acquisition of more-than 100 defunct Kids “R” Us stores. He also oversaw a store redesign and the purchase of French contract stationer Guilbert SA.

Still, Staples in 2003 captured the “world’s largest office supply retailer,” title from Office Depot and the chain has suffered from lagging sales at its aging North American stores. After Nelson left, Office Depot pulled back, jettisoning a plan to build a new Boca Raton headquarters, while cutting costs with layoffs and outsourcing.

In February, Office Depot said fourth-quarter earnings rose 15 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, as sales at older stores in North America had their biggest gain in almost five years. On March 1, its shares reached a 52-week high of $19.71, up nearly $5 from its October price of about $15.

Still, Office Depot remains poised between rivals in very different shape. Staples remains robust and reported profit up 19 percent for its fourth quarter.

But on Monday, third-place OfficeMax Inc. reported that profit plunged 90 percent after the company wrote down assets, paid debt and slashed prices. Net income fell to $695,000 from $6.87 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier, the Itasca, Ill.-based firm said in a statement.

A group of OfficeMax investors has urged management to consider breaking up or selling the company, which last month found it fabricated $3.3 million in rebates, spurring Chief Executive Christopher Milliken to resign.

Meanwhile, Office Depot and Odland still face the problem of an older fleet of stores that it will take time to revamp — though the process has begun, said Ulysses Yannas, an analyst with Shrewsbury, N.J.-based Buckman, Buckman & Reid.

“It’s not something you can change in one fell swoop,” he said.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story. Karen-Janine Cohen can be reached at or 954-356-4668

JOB HISTORY:

Odland joined AutoZone in January 2001.

Before that, he was chief operating officer for Ahold USA Inc. and CEO of Tops Markets Inc., an Ahold unit.

Prior to Ahold, Odland was president of the food service division of Sara Lee Corp. and spent 16 years at The Quaker Oats Co.

QUOTE:

“He is a decision maker, and that will help. It is definitely a net positive for Office Depot to pick someone like him.”

— Equity analyst Joseph Feldman