Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) closed at $54.70 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.1% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 1.23%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.28%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.13%.
Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had gained 8.05% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector’s loss of 0.49% and the S&P 500’s gain of 1.95% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WBA as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 28, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.42, down 4.05% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $33.83 billion, up 1.16% from the year-ago period.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. WBA currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WBA has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.23 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.23, 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 1.38. 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. WBA’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.38 as of yesterday’s close.
The Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, which puts it in the top 31% 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.
To follow WBA in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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