NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) - Get Report closed lower by 4.60% to $7.68 on heavy volume on Thursday, after the retail and drug store chain company issued its same-store-sales results for February, which increased year-over-year but slowed down from January.

Last month Rite Aid's same-store-sales grew by 3.3% over the same five weeks for the year ago period.

In January, Rite Aid said its same-store-sales grew by 4.8% when compared to the same month in the previous year.

Rite Aid's total drug store sales for February increased by 1.7% to $2.56 billion when compared to February 2014.

Overall drugstore sales for this past January grew by 4.3% versus the same period last year.

Additionally, last month Rite Aid struck a deal worth almost $2 billion to purchase Envision Pharmaceutical Services from the investment firm TPG. This deal puts the company in a better position to compete with the larger drug store chains, such as CVS Health Corp. (CVS) - Get Report, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates RITE AID CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate RITE AID CORP (RAD) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, solid stock price performance and growth in earnings per share. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• RAD's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 2.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.3%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.
• Looking at where the stock is today compared to one year ago, we find that it is not only higher, but it has also clearly outperformed the rise in the S&P 500 over the same period. Although other factors naturally played a role, the company's strong earnings growth was key. Despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year, there is currently no conclusive evidence that warrants the purchase or sale of this stock.
• The gross profit margin for RITE AID CORP is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 30.30%. Regardless of RAD's low profit margin, it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 1.56% trails the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to $111.73 million or 54.21% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: RAD Ratings Report