Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) closed the most recent trading day at $11.18, moving +0.45% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.41%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.65%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.18%.
The the stock of largest U.S. drugstore chain has risen by 3.06% in the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 9.47% and the S&P 500's gain of 9%.
The upcoming earnings release of Walgreens Boots Alliance will be of great interest to investors. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.34, marking a 46.03% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $36.66 billion, indicating a 0.85% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.66 per share and a revenue of $151.49 billion, representing changes of -42.36% and +2.59%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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.
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. Over the past month, there's been a 0.88% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Walgreens Boots Alliance is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
From a valuation perspective, Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 6.7. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 5.11.
We can also see that WBA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.34. 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 0.77.
The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 2, putting it in the top 1% 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.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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