Walgreens beats 3Q profit forecasts

Walgreen also reported on Thursday adjusted fiscal third-quarter earnings of $1.02 per share, which trumped analyst expectations. Foreign MarketsEuropean stocks were sharply higher Friday after reports that Greece was moving closer to creditors’ demands, fueling investor hopes that Greece could avoid an exit from the eurozone. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.89.

Comparable sales at US Walgreens and Duane Reade stores rose 1.6 percent in the quarter. (NYSE:BBY) year to date (YTD) performance is -11.46%. On a consensus basis, analysts have a one year target price of N/A. The company’s trailing twelve month (ttm) EPS stands at 3.44. The USA company then announced previous year that it would pay about $16 billion in cash and stock to buy the remaining stake in Alliance Boots that it did not already own. Prescriptions filled rose 4.1%. Since the official launch of our small-cap strategy in August 2012, it has performed just as predicted, returning over 135% and beating the market by more than 80 percentage points.

If Walgreens were to target a pharmacy benefits manager, Express Scripts Holding Co. or UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx would be the “obvious choices”, according to Jon Wolfenbarger at Allianz Global Investors US. Walgreens expects full-year earnings in the range of $US3.70 to $US3.80 per share. Long-term debt was $15.1 billion, compared with $3.7 billion as of August 31, 2014. The result was up from $714 million, or 74 cents a share, for the same period in 2014.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.

Looking toward earnings guidance, the company boosted its projections for the current fiscal year, which ends next month. The company’s commitment of $150 million for Internet of Everything United Kingdom start-ups and venture capital equity investments will focus on key priorities for Cisco and the UK.

The dividend, payable September 11 to stockholders of record on August 19, was raised to 36 cents a share from 33.8 cents.

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director John Anthony Lederer purchased 10,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th.

Walgreens Boots is now covered by 26 Wall Street analysts. Through a conference call to talk over the company’s recent quarterly earnings, the CEO explained his belief that the American market can undergo a significant wave of consolidation, vertically and horizontally.

The fiscal third-quarter results mark the first full quarter of operations since the two companies became fully integrated.