Walgreens Boots Alliance Earnings Jump Nearly 15%, Plus Jim Cramer's Take
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) - Get Report saw its net earnings jump 14.7% year-on-year to $1.3 billion in the three months before May 31, as Walgreens benefited from synergy effects from its combination with Alliance Boots. The figures are on an adjusted basis and attributable to Walgreens Boots Alliance.
The Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmacy also reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.18 on net sales of $29.5 billion, roughly in line with the Thomson Reuters analyst survey with average estimates of $1.14 per share on revenue of $29.7 billion. In the same period a year earlier, the company booked net sales of $28.8 billion.
Jim Cramer and Research Director Jack Mohr wrote that these results are "a solid beat and raise." Walgreens Boots Alliance is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio.
"We view the results as solid yet neutral, and are more interested in management's commentary" on a Wednesday morning conference call, Cramer and Mohr added.
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"We achieved our goal set four years ago of at least $1 billion in combined net synergies in fiscal year 2016 related to the strategic combination with Alliance Boots," chief executive officer Stefano Pessina said in a statement.
Net sales in the quarter rose 2.4%, from $28.8 billion to $29.5 billion, with growth in the U.S. retail pharmacy and the pharmaceutical wholesale segments more than offsetting the declines seen in the international retail pharmacy segment.
The company raised the lower end of its full-year earnings by 10 cents per share and now expects adjusted net earnings per diluted per share of between $4.45 and $4.55.
Walgreens announced results before the markets opened. Shares closed up 0.55% at $83.52 on Tuesday, but were sinking by 1.45% in Wednesday premarket trading.