St. Louis-based CPI Corp., which operates about 3,000 portrait studios inside Sears, Walmart and Babies R Us stores, has taken a number of hits of late.

Its poor results in the last quarter sent shares tumbling. It was sued last month by a pension fund saying the company had misled investors about its financial health.

And this week, it moved its stock to the over-the-counter market after the New York Stock Exchange said it would suspend trading of its stock because its market capitalization fell below the exchange's threshold.

Then today, the company said its chief executive since 2006, Renato Cataldo, had left the company as of Wednesday "to pursue other opportunities."

CPI's stock was worth $49.22 a share on Oct. 10, 2006, the day before Cataldo was named CEO. It closed today at $1.19, a decline of more than 97 percent.

James J. Abel, 65, has been named the company's interim president and chief executive. A former executive with Financial Executives International and Lamson & Sessions, Abel has been a CPI director since 2004.

"We appreciate Jim's willingness to step into this interim role to help address our financial and operational challenges," David M. Meyer, the company's executive chairman, said in a statement.

The company did not respond to a request to interview company executives.

In a statement, Abel said he understands CPI's core strengths and looks forward to helping improve the company's financial performance.

Analysts have attributed many of the CPI's challenges to both the economy, which has left its core customers with little disposable cash, as well as to industry-wide changes with more people using digital cameras and sitting down for fewer formal portraits.

Some had hoped that the company's 2010 addition of Kiddie Kandids, the studios inside Babies R Us, would be a bright spot. CPI had bought the company at an auction after its former owner filed for bankruptcy. But in December, CPI said its Kiddie Kandids same-store store sales had dropped 25 percent in the third fiscal quarter ended Nov. 12.

The company has also recently expanded outside of portrait studios with the acquisition last year of wedding photography company Bella Pictures.

In the third fiscal quarter, CPI reported a net loss of $7.3 million, or $1.03 a share, and an 11 percent drop in net sales. The company blamed the results in part on failed marketing efforts with some competitors coming out with sharper deals.

Last month, CPI reported a drop of 18 percent in same-store sales in the first eight weeks of the fourth fiscal quarter, which includes the important holiday season. The company said then that sales declines had begun to improve in more recent weeks.

CPI's stock began trading today on the over-the-counter market as "CPIC." Its previous ticker symbol was "CPY."

 

 

David Nicklaus of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.