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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $35.45, marking a -1.77% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.07%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.12%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.47%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 2.7% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 5.56%, while the S&P 500 lost 2%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 28, 2023. On that day, Walgreens Boots Alliance is projected to report earnings of $1.11 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 30.19%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $33.45 billion, down 0.92% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.50 per share and revenue of $134.51 billion, which would represent changes of -10.71% and +1.36%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Walgreens Boots Alliance is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Walgreens Boots Alliance's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 8.02. This represents a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 8.02.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.6. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.43 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 24, which puts it in the top 10% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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