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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 $40.14 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.93% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.67%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.53%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.08%.

WBA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect WBA to post earnings of $1.18 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 19.73%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $34.23 billion, down 1.03% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.53 per share and revenue of $138.47 billion, which would represent changes of -7.68% and +1.17%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any 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.

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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. WBA is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WBA has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.19 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.02, so we one might conclude that WBA is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.83. 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. 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 194, which puts it in the bottom 24% 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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