The most recent trading session ended with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) standing at $11.21, reflecting a -0.62% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.76%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.18%.

Shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain witnessed a gain of 13.14% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its loss of 10.64% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.29%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Walgreens Boots Alliance in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.53, reflecting a 55.83% decrease from the same quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $37.92 billion, indicating a 2.35% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.61 per share and revenue of $151.51 billion. These totals would mark changes of -44.1% and +2.61%, respectively, from last year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. 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, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.53% higher within the past month. Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.01. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 6.07, which means Walgreens Boots Alliance is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that WBA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.4. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.85 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 4, which puts it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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