Walgreens Sales Rise, But Profit Falls 25% -- Update

By Allison Prang 

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.'s sales and earnings for its latest quarter fell short of what Wall Street was guiding, but the drugstore chain reiterated its earnings outlook for the year.

Sales at Walgreens rose less than 2% in the quarter ended Nov. 30, hitting $34.34 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $34.58 billion.

Shares fell 4.6% in premarket trading.

Walgreens' quarterly profit was $845 million, a drop of 25%. Adjusted earnings of $1.37 a share missed the consensus estimate from analysts polled by FactSet.

Walgreens, however, reiterated it adjusted earnings expectations for the fiscal year.

The company said comparable retail sales in the U.S. -- or those at stores that have been open for at least a year -- declined 0.5% because of less of an emphasis on tobacco. Comparable pharmacy sales in the U.S. rose 2.5%, Walgreens said. Walgreens raised the minimum age required for customers to buy tobacco products in its stores to 21 as of Sept. 1.

Walgreens said in October it was shutting down the in-store health clinics in the U.S. that it runs. The company, however, is keeping the ones run by local health systems.

Write to Allison Prang at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 08, 2020 10:11 ET (15:11 GMT)

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