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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Stock Moves -0.48%: What You Should Know

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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $76.61 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.48% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.44%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.27%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.06%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had gained 8% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 6.57%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.61%.

WBA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 3, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.45, up 13.28% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $33.67 billion, up 9.54% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.51 per share and revenue of $137.97 billion. These totals would mark changes of +8.14% and +4.89%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.27% higher within the past month. WBA is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WBA has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.83 right now. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.83.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.16. 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 1.12 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 22, which puts it in the top 9% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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