Latest news with #WalgreensBootsAlliance
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade
In the latest market close, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) reached $11.20, with a -0.44% movement compared to the previous day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.41% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.08%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.67%. Shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain have appreciated by 2.46% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 5.64% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.13%. The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Walgreens Boots Alliance in its forthcoming earnings report. On that day, Walgreens Boots Alliance is projected to report earnings of $0.34 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 46.03%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $36.66 billion, indicating a 0.85% upward movement from the same quarter last year. For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.66 per share and a revenue of $151.49 billion, demonstrating changes of -42.36% and +2.59%, respectively, from the preceding year. Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook. Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system. The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Walgreens Boots Alliance presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Walgreens Boots Alliance has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.77 right now. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 5.43. Investors should also note that WBA has a PEG ratio of 1.35 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.79 based on yesterday's closing prices. The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, putting it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries. The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1. To follow WBA in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
USA Today
25-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Why you should buy these 3 AI stocks right now
Why you should buy these 3 AI stocks right now Show Caption Hide Caption Retirement worries grow as seniors face Trump tariffs, stock selloff Retired educator and part-time yoga instructor Vicki Knight says she feels stretched thin. "I'm semi-retired." The Marietta, Georgia, resident says her Social Security income is not enough to live on and that a recent stock market selloff fueled by tariff uncertainty has complicated her plans. The U.S. equity market has experienced high volatility so far in 2025, driven by aggressive tariff policies, ongoing trade wars, rising interest rates, and shifting investor behaviors. Yet, this period has also presented opportunities to acquire reasonably priced, high-quality stocks. You do not need substantial funds to take advantage of the current environment. Just $200 – not kept aside for bills or emergency savings – can be invested in any of these artificial intelligence (AI)-powered stocks for at least the next five years. Palantir Palantir Technologies' (NASDAQ: PLTR) data mining and analytics platform helps unify, organize, and manage vast amounts of organizational data across various sources and formats to generate actionable insights. The company's earnings performance highlights the strong demand for its offerings. Palantir's first-quarter results were impressive, with revenue rising 39% year over year to $884 million. The company's U.S. revenue grew even faster, at 55% year over year, and now accounts for almost 71% of the total business. Notably, the U.S. commercial business has also crossed the $1 billion annual revenue run rate in the first quarter. Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) has positioned the company as providing a major ontology (a digital framework that links an organization's digital and real-world assets) and AI-powered operating system for commercial enterprises and government agencies. Unlike other AI players that focus on developing advanced foundational models, Palantir primarily concentrates on AI implementations, translating the capabilities of large language models into business outcomes. AIP enables enterprise autonomy, helping clients build autonomous AI agents for various tasks. Customer adoption of the company's offerings has been strong. Walgreens Boots Alliance has automated nearly 384 billion daily decisions across 4,000 stores in eight months, while American International Group expects its five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to double after adopting Palantir's technology. Hence, despite trading at a very rich valuation of 208 times forward earnings, Palantir's implementation-focused AI strategy and strong customer demand present an exceptional long-term opportunity for retail investors. SoundHound AI SoundHound AI's (NASDAQ: SOUN) recent earnings performance has also been stellar. With revenue surging 151% year over year to $29.1 million, and none of its customers accounting for more than 10% of the total revenue, the company has built a high-growth and well-diversified business. SoundHound has created a sustainable competitive moat with its proprietary multimodal and multilingual Polaris foundation model, which supports 30 languages and delivers 4 times better latency, twice the sentence accuracy in noisy environments, and 35% better word error rates. Consequently, the company is well-positioned to capture share in the global voice and speech recognition market, estimated to grow from $19.1 billion in 2025 to $81.6 billion by 2030. Furthermore, SoundHound's strategic acquisitions of SYNQ3, Allset, and Amelia have expanded the company's reach to nearly 13,000 restaurants, while also opening new cross-selling opportunities across several verticals. The company has recently introduced a voice commerce ecosystem that integrates conversational AI capabilities in vehicles, enabling hands-free ordering from restaurants while driving. This feature has generated significant interest from automakers and could become a substantial revenue stream in the years to come. SoundHound's stock is down nearly 60% from its all-time high in December 2024. Coupled with multiple tailwinds, this discounted price appears to be the right time to buy this stock now. UiPath Shares of robotic process automation (RPA) player UiPath (NYSE: PATH) are currently down nearly 86% from their all-time high in May 2021. The company has suffered in the current uncertain macroeconomic environment, despite its strong fundamentals. In its recent earnings results (the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, ended Jan. 31), UiPath's revenue was slightly below analyst estimates, primarily due to the timing of deal closures in the government business. However, UiPath's strategic pivot toward agentic AI can prove to be a significant catalyst in the long run. Several of its agentic AI products, including Agent Builder, Agentic Orchestration, and Agentic Testing, are already seeing strong adoption trends. With Agent Builder, nearly 3,000 agents have been added to workflows to create mission-critical processes. Agentic Orchestration is helping orchestrate specialized agents, robots, and people to execute goal-based tasks. Agentic Testing is also helping software testers improve productivity with agents. This approach to combining AI agents with traditional RPA has been a key differentiator for the company. UiPath also boasts robust customer metrics, with a dollar-based gross retention rate of 98% and a dollar-based net retention rate of 110% in the fourth quarter. Additionally, while the total customer count remained flat year over year, high-value customers spending over $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased by 10% year over year, and those spending $5 million or more increased by 30% in the fourth quarter. Finally, UiPath also has a robust balance sheet with $1.7 billion in cash and zero debt. Despite the many advantages, UiPath trades at only 4.6 times sales, significantly lower than its three-year average of 6.9 times. Hence, considering the multiple tailwinds and low valuation, the stock is a worthwhile investment, even though the company has experienced a slowdown in its growth trajectory over the past few quarters. Manali Pradhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies and UiPath. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. Should you invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies right now? Offer from the Motley Fool: Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider whenNetflixmade this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,you'd have $639,271!* Or when Nvidiamade this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,you'd have $804,688!* Now, it's worth notingStock Advisor's total average return is957% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to167%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you joinStock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Walgreens Grows Micro-Fulfillment Operations with New Center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) is pushing forward with its investment in advanced pharmacy technology through the launch of a new micro-fulfillment center (MFC) in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) is an American multinational company that operates retail pharmacy chains along with pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution businesses. The company is growing the number of retail locations served by its MFCs, which rely on robotic automation to handle high volumes of prescriptions for patients managing chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. The goal is to ease the burden on pharmacy staff by cutting down on routine tasks and reducing inventory waste. This shift allows pharmacists more time for direct patient care, including services like immunizations and diagnostic testing. The new Brooklyn Park center is set to support nearly 200 Walgreens stores across the Midwest—145 of them in Minnesota—and is expected to fill around 13 million prescriptions annually. It will also create over 175 new jobs and generate notable tax contributions at both the state and county levels. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) initially introduced these robotic fulfillment centers in 2021 but temporarily paused the rollout in 2023 to fine-tune operations and gather feedback. After implementing upgrades and developing new internal tools over the past year, the company now feels confident in restarting the expansion of this technology. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) now operates 12 micro-fulfillment centers nationwide, which collectively support over 5,000 of its stores and handle more than 3.5 million prescription orders each week. These advanced fulfillment centers have delivered strong results. Prescription shipments from these facilities rose 24% year-over-year, with about 16 million filled monthly. At supported stores, MFCs now handle around 40% of all prescriptions, freeing up pharmacists to focus on patient care like vaccinations. In addition, a recycling initiative at these centers helped divert 3.7 million pounds of cardboard, plastic, and toner cartridges from landfills in fiscal 2024. The stock is up by over 22% in 2025 so far. While we acknowledge the potential of WBA to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WBA and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ MORE: and Disclosure. None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Times
10-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Stefano Pessina tightens grip on Boots in $10bn takeover
The billionaire chairman of Boots will tighten his grip on the Anglo-American pharmacy group by taking a near-50 per cent stake in it as part of a $10 billion (£7.5 billion) private equity takeover. Stefano Pessina, the 83-year-old executive who was previously a 17 per cent shareholder in Walgreens Boots Alliance, will put in more money to increase his stake to almost 50 per cent, according to City sources. Private equity group Sycamore will take a majority shareholding, however, they added. The precise details of the post-takeover ownership structure are still being thrashed out by advisers. Sycamore announced a $11.45-a-share deal to take US-listed Walgreens Boots Alliance private in March. • What the $10bn sale of Walgreens means for your Boots Boots is one of
CNN
05-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Rite Aid files for bankruptcy — again
Rite Aid on Monday announced it is filing for bankruptcy for a second time, barely just seven months after the chain exited Chapter 11 and emerged as a private company. The financially strapped drug store chain said it is looking for a buyer, and re-filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection will help facilitate that process. The company said it would keep its stores open throughout its bankruptcy. 'While we have continued to face financial challenges, intensified by the rapidly evolving retail and healthcare landscapes in which we operate, we are encouraged by meaningful interest from a number of potential national and regional strategic acquirors,' said Matt Schroeder, Rite Aid's CEO, in a statement. 'As we move forward, our key priorities are ensuring uninterrupted pharmacy services for our customers and preserving jobs for as many associates as possible.' Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, becoming a casualty of a miserable environment for drug stores, exacerbated by its runner-up status to bigger chains and expensive legal battles for allegedly filling unlawful opioid prescriptions that pushed its debt to nearly $4 billion. It took about a year to navigate the Chapter 11 process, finally emerging in September 2024 by slashing $2 billion in debt, securing $2.5 billion in funds to keep operating and the closure of about 500 locations. On Monday, Rite Aid said it secured nearly $2 billion in new financing to keep it operational during its bankruptcy. Rite Aid is a distant third-largest nationwide standalone pharmacy chain in the United States — and the seventh largest pharmacy overall, when taking into account big box chains. It has about 1,250 stores remaining — roughly half of the number it had just two years ago. It was offered a $17 billion lifeline in 2015 when Walgreens offered to buy the chain. But the deal was met with stiff scrutiny from US regulators who feared the combination would violate federal antitrust laws and reduce competition in the drug store market. Ultimately, in 2017, the companies agreed to a smaller, $4.4 billion deal, in which Walgreens bought just under 2,000 Rite Aid locations, leaving Rite Aid diminished in stature and unable to compete at the scale of its bigger rivals. Rite Aid's bankruptcy comes amid struggles for its rivals, too. Walgreens Boots Alliance announced in March that it's being taken private in a deal valued up to $24 billion, following a largely disastrous run on the public markets where its market cap has lost billions and more than 1,200 of its locations have closed or plan to close. The transaction is expected to be finalized later this year. At CVS, the chain has closed more than 1,000 stores and undergone thousands of layoffs over the past several months. The company is experimenting with a new, smaller-format store that only focuses on the pharmacy rather than the retail part. All three chains have struggled with declining prescription reimbursements in recent years, sending its value plummeting to just around $9.5 billion from $100 billion a decade ago. They have also all become ubiquitous and over-expanded, with the chains becoming synonymous with convenience stores, giving people the option to pick-up their medication and perhaps grab something else, too. However, they've struggled to keep up with Amazon, Target and other retailers and have also had issues with theft, which has chipped away their profitability.
