Walgreens Boots Alliance Q3 Profit Tops Estimates; Sales Up 0.7%

(RTTNews) - Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) said it made progress in the third quarter against the strategic goals the company set, and reported an improvement in its U.S. comparable growth compared with the first half of the year. Also, Walgreens reiterated its fiscal 2019 guidance.

Third-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $1.47, a decrease of 4.0 percent on a reported basis and a decrease of 2.4 percent on a constant currency basis, compared with the same quarter a year ago. On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.43 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Third-quarter sales were $34.6 billion, an increase of 0.7 percent from the year-ago quarter, and an increase of 2.9 percent on a constant currency basis. Analysts expected revenue of $34.46 billion for the quarter.

Retail Pharmacy USA had third quarter sales of $26.5 billion, an increase of 2.3 percent over the year-ago quarter. Excluding the impact of store optimization following the acquisition of Rite Aid stores, organic sales growth was 2.9 percent in the quarter. Pharmacy sales, which accounted for 73.9 percent of the division's sales in the quarter, increased 4.3 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales increased 6.0 percent.

For fiscal 2019, the company maintained adjusted EPS guidance of roughly flat, at constant currency rates.