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Rite Aid Sales Rise; Stock Does the Same

Jeanine Poggi

Investors have taken a run to Rite Aid(RAD Quote) today to pick up a few shares of the company's stock.

The chain saw shares jump 9% to $1.51 in morning trading, despite slightly missing Wall Street's same-store sales expectations.

Rite Aid posted a .6% rise in May same-store sales, receiving a lift from pharmacy sales. Analysts expected a .8% lift during the month.

The company said same-store sales of non-pharmacy, or front-end products like candy and makeup slid 1.5%, while sales of pharmacy items, which comprise about two-thirds of its revenue, rose 1.6%.

Earlier in the week, rival Walgreen(WAG Quote) also posted a small 1% increase in comparable sales, off from analysts' expectations of a 2.2% jump.

Shares of Walgreen lost 1% to $30.98, while CVS Caremark(CVS Quote), which does not report monthly sales numbers, also declined 1% in morning trading to $30.31.