Walgreen's 3Q Misses, Shares Slip

Walgreen Co. (WAG) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of 53 cents per share, missing the consensus forecast by 3 cents despite higher sales.

Revenue expanded 8% to $16.2 billion, while same-store sales grew 3%.

The company said prescription sales, which comprised nearly 66% of revenue, increased 8%.

Walgreen also said that it launched 162 new drugstores in the quarter, compared to 122 in the year-ago period.

The consensus estimate for the year ending August 2009 declined by a penny over the past 2 months to $2.05 per share.

Meanwhile, next fiscal year's average forecast has moved up a penny over the past week to $2.30 per share, as 2 out of 21 covering analysts raised expectations.

WAG, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock, has slipped more than 6% on heavier-than-usual volume of approximately 14.5 million, against the average daily volume of about 6.7 million.

Read the full analyst report on WAG