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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $71.71, moving -1.06% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.02%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.21%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 11.95% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 0.15% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.4% in that time.

WBA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 27, 2019. In that report, analysts expect WBA to post earnings of $1.74 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 0.58%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $34.72 billion, up 5.16% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.52 per share and revenue of $136.85 billion. These totals would mark changes of +8.31% and +4.04%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WBA should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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 0.21% lower. WBA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, WBA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.11. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.11.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.13. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. WBA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.01 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 73, which puts it in the top 29% 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.

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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