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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing

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In the latest trading session, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $15.94, marking a +0.63% move from the previous day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.26%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.18%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.35%.

Shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain witnessed a loss of 7.85% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its loss of 0.54% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.25%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Walgreens Boots Alliance in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on June 27, 2024. On that day, Walgreens Boots Alliance is projected to report earnings of $0.68 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 32%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $35.96 billion, up 1.55% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.21 per share and revenue of $145.92 billion, which would represent changes of -19.35% and +4.91%, respectively, from the prior year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.41% lower. Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

From a valuation perspective, Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.93. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.61.

We can also see that WBA currently has a PEG ratio of 0.99. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.79.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 228, positioning it in the bottom 10% of all 250+ industries.

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

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


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