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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed at $81.91 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.63% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 2.12% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.13%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.64%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had gained 9.57% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 2.5%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.4%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WBA as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 3, 2019. On that day, WBA is projected to report earnings of $1.43 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 11.72%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $33.64 billion, up 9.44% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.54 per share and revenue of $137.65 billion. These totals would mark changes of +8.64% and +4.65%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.55% higher. WBA is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, WBA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.32. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.32.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.28. 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. The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.11 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 2, putting it in the top 1% 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.

To follow WBA in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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