Walgreen October Sales Beat Street

DERRFIEL, Ill. (TheStreet) -- Walgreen's(WAG Quote) same-store sales jumped 4.9% in October, receiving a boost from flu vaccinations.

Front-end sales, which include discretionary purchases like hair-care and cosmetics, shot up 4.7%, while prescription comparable sales rose 5%. One percentage-point of prescription sales came from flu shots.

Analysts expected same-store sales to advance 4.8%, with just a 2.5% rise at the front-end.

Total October sales surged 9.4% to $5.65 billion.

Last week, rival Rite Aid(RAD Quote) said its October same-store sales slipped 0.5%, hurt by front-end sales and the introduction of new generic drugs.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York

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