Walgreen Poised to Pummel Sector
NEW YORK (
) --
Walgreen
(WAG)
is pegged to pummel its competitors when it reports its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
Walgreen has fared better than most drugstores amid the recession. While its front-end has been hurting due to a pullback in consumer spending, it has seen a boost in prescription sales.
Two major initiatives, launched within the past year, have helped to propel the company to the top. One, its "Customer-Centric Retailing" program, is designed to helped attract and retain customers, while the company's "Rewiring for Growth" cost-cutting plan is intended to save the company $1 billion by 2011.
Like other drugstores, it is also looking to
. The increase awareness due to swine flu outbreak, pushed Walgreen to begin offering its seasonal flu shots a month earlier this year.
And last week, the company said it plans to help curb the
by compounding capsules.
TheStreet users (55.9%) said
Walgreen is best poised to gain the most market share from flu season
, in our online poll last week.
Walgreen has already said its fourth-quarter sales rose about 8%, to $15.72 billion from $14.6 billion a year ago. For the full year, sales grew more than 7% to $63.35 billion, with same-store sales up 2.1%.
Analysts expect the company to earn 39 cents a share on $15.68 billion in revenue.
In August, Walgreen said it signed a deal with
Caterpillar
(CAT) - Get Report
, the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, to offer prescription drugs directly to employees starting in 2010.
During the quarter, shares of the company spiked nearly 14% to $33.88, and are currently up 1% in Monday morning trading to $34.05.
Last week, rival
Rite Aid
(RAD) - Get Report
posted yet another loss in its second-quarter and lowered its full-year outlook.
-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York
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