Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) closed at $40.61 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.36% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.58% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.75%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.34%.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 11.54% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 19.53% and lagging the S&P 500's loss of 10.53% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Walgreens Boots Alliance as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Walgreens Boots Alliance is projected to report earnings of $0.96 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 36.42%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $32.11 billion, down 5.64% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.05 per share and revenue of $132.35 billion. These totals would mark changes of -4.9% and -3.66%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Walgreens Boots Alliance has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.15 right now. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 8.15.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 2.24. 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. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.87 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 248, which puts it in the bottom 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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