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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 $54.66, marking a +0.27% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.2% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.08%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.3%.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 0.59% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 1.56% and lagging the S&P 500's loss of 0.25% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from WBA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 28, 2019. On that day, WBA is projected to report earnings of $1.41 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 4.73%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $33.90 billion, up 1.38% from the year-ago period.

It is also important to note the 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.93% lower. WBA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note WBA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.2. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.31.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.39. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.39 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 78, which puts it in the top 31% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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