In the latest trading session, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) closed at $67.33, marking a -1.04% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500’s 2.48% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 2.83%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.04%.
Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 17.85% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector’s loss of 8.8% and the S&P 500’s loss of 8.82% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from WBA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 27, 2019. On that day, WBA is projected to report earnings of $1.74 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 0.58%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $34.63 billion, up 4.88% from the prior-year quarter.
WBA’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.52 per share and revenue of $137 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.31% and +4.15%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.27% lower. 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 10.43. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 10.43, so we one might conclude that WBA is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.
We can also see that WBA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.06. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. The Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.04 as of yesterday’s close.
The Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 181, putting it in the bottom 29% 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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