Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) ended the recent trading session at $11.23, demonstrating a +1.72% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 1.59% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.45%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 2.78%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 1.87% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.87% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 2.23% in that time.

The upcoming earnings release of Walgreens Boots Alliance will be of great interest to investors. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.53, signifying a 55.83% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $38.07 billion, indicating a 2.75% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.60 per share and revenue of $151.57 billion. These totals would mark changes of -44.44% and +2.65%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.76% upward. Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 6.9. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 5.93.

Investors should also note that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.38 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.83 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, finds itself in the top 2% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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