Walgreens Boots Alliance’s sales come in 2.3% higher in fiscal Q4

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) said on Thursday that its profit in the fiscal fourth quarter contracted less than expected. Revenue in Q4, it added, came in stronger than what the analysts had anticipated.

Shares of the company were reported trading about 1% up in premarket trading on Thursday. On market open, Walgreens Boots Alliance continued its rally and gained another 5% in the stock market. Interested in investing in the stock market online? Here’s a simple guide to get you started.

Including the price action, the £25.31 billion company that has a price to earnings ratio of 46.26 is now roughly 35% down year to date.

Walgreens’ Q4 financial results versus analysts’ estimates

Walgreens said that its net income in the fourth quarter printed at £288.82 million that translates to 33.30 pence per share. In the same quarter last year, it had reported a much higher £524.21 million of net income or 58.07 pence per share. In separate news from the U.S., invest bank Morgan Stanley also published its quarterly financial results on Thursday.

Adjusted for one-time items, the pharmaceutical company earned 79 pence per share in Q4 versus 74.33 pence per share expected, according to FactSet. At £26.91 billion, sales in the recent quarter jumped 2.3% on a year over year basis, and topped experts’ forecast of £26.61 billion. In the prior quarter (Q3), Walgreens had swung to a net loss of £1.35 billion.

Walgreens also said on Thursday that sales from its retail pharmacy business in the United States came in 3.6% higher than last year at £20.91 billion in the fourth quarter, and topped FactSet Consensus of £20.73 billion. Prescription filled jumped 1.6% in Q4, and comparable-store sales posted a 3.6% year over year growth.

Sales from pharmaceutical wholesale business were 4.3% higher

The Deerfield-based company said it generated £1.78 billion of sales from its retail pharmacy international business that topped experts’ forecast of a slightly lower £1.70 billion. At £4.65 billion, sales from pharmaceutical wholesale were 4.3% higher than last year. Analysts had predicted £4.57 billion of sales from this segment instead.

According to Walgreens Boots Alliance:

“While the company anticipates a gradual reduction in COVID-19 impacts, the first-half results will continue to be negatively impacted when compared with the pre-COVID-19 first half of fiscal 2020. However, for the second half, the company anticipated strong adjusted EPS growth, as these effects subside and recovery plans take hold in key markets.”