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

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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $35.39 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.15% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.31% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.22%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.28%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 3.69% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.4% and lagged the S&P 500's loss of 1% in that time.

Walgreens Boots Alliance will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.11, down 30.19% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $33.45 billion, down 0.92% from the year-ago period.

WBA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.50 per share and revenue of $134.51 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -10.71% and +1.36%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% 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 7.95 right now. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.95.

We can also see that WBA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.59. 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. WBA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46 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 23, putting it in the top 10% 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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