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

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In the latest trading session, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $54.46, marking a -0.02% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.82% gain on the day.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 2% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.34% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.31% in that time.

In that report, analysts expect WBA to post earnings of $1.15 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 38.55%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $33.65 billion, down 2.82% from the prior-year quarter.

WBA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.89 per share and revenue of $133.38 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +3.16% and -4.41%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.84% lower. WBA is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, WBA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.15. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.03, which means WBA is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.63. 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 1.63 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 240, which puts it in the bottom 6% 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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