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

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In the latest trading session, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $76.23, marking a +0.65% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.73%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.19%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 2.07%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had gained 2.61% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 9.73%, while the S&P 500 lost 7.09%.

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 $1.42, up 10.94% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $33.64 billion, up 9.44% from the year-ago period.

WBA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.53 per share and revenue of $137.65 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.47% and +4.65%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

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, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.36% higher. WBA is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Investors should also note WBA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 11.59. This represents a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.59.

Meanwhile, WBA's PEG ratio is currently 1.18. 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. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.11 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, putting it in the top 27% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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