Walgreens Stock Rises Ahead Of Q1 Earnings: Retail’s Bullish

Walgreens Boots Alliance ($WBA) stock was up 0.43% in after-hours trading on Wednesday ahead of the pharmacy chain’s first-quarter earnings results, lifting retail sentiment.

Walgreens was scheduled to report its earnings before the opening bell on Thursday but rescehduled the release due to the holiday observance for former president Jimmy Carter’s recent death.

Wall Street analysts expect the company to post earnings per share of $0.38 on estimated revenue of $37.4 billion, according to Stocktwits data. In its most recent quarter, the company posted $0.39 in EPS, beating estimates by 9.36%, according to Stocktwits data.

Walgreens has beaten EPS estimates three out of four times in the last four quarters. It beat revenue estimates in all four most recent quarters.

Walgreens stock has an average analyst price target of $10, which was about 8% above Wednesday close, Investing.com reported.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits turned ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ last week. Message volumes have been in the normal range.

WBA sentiment meter and message volumes on Jan 10 as of 12:20 am

One commenter on Stocktwits was hopeful to receive Sycamore buyout updates, while another was optimistic about a 15% bounce in the stock.

Last month, WSJ reported Walgreens was in talks with Sycamore Partners, a private equity, firm to take the company private.

Following the news, Morgan Stanley analyst Erin Wright said a "buyout is harder to contemplate given its already sizeable debt burden and paltry cash flow, making the value creation pathway harder to decipher,” The Fly.com reported.

Walgreens stock is down 2% year-to-date.

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