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

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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $58.71, moving +0.14% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.32% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.38%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.4%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 0.07% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 0.52%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.51%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from WBA as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect WBA to post earnings of $1.39 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 4.79%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $34.59 billion, up 2.36% from the year-ago period.

WBA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.93 per share and revenue of $139.86 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -1% and +2.19%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. WBA is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note WBA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.88. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.73, which means WBA is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.46 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.46 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 102, putting it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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