WBA Stock price was up on Thursday morning, trading at $32.56 as of 10:42 AM EDT

Pre-market Oct. 13 trading for Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) is up after FQ4 results were above analysts’ expectations and the company released an outlook for Fiscal 2023. FQ4 continuing operations sales were $32.45 billion, which was 5.3% less than the same time last year, but it was more than expected.

The drugstore chain said that a 660 basis point impact from the reduction in sales at AllianceRx Walgreens more than offset sales increases at Walgreens, in the international sector, and contributions from the U.S. Healthcare segment.

“In the first year of our transition to a healthcare company that focuses on consumers, WBA has done better than expected,” said Rosalind Brewer, CEO of WBA. “Our flexible company grew,” she added, despite problems with the economy as a whole. “

The United States Retail Pharmacy segment, which used to be called the “United States” segment, had sales of $26.7 billion, which was 7.2% less than the same time last year. According to the company, comparable sales went up 1.6% from the previous year and beat the great comparable sales of 8.1% from the previous quarter, which were helped a lot by COVID-19 immunizations.

In Q4, Walgreens said that it performed 3.4 million PCR tests and 2.9 million immunizations.

The Walgreens Health division, which used to be called “U.S. Healthcare,” made $622 million in sales in the fourth quarter. The company said that the sales of the businesses in this division grew at a pro forma rate of 34% during the quarter.

Sales in the international business for the fourth quarter were $5.1 billion, a 6.6% year-over-year fall with a 13.3% negative currency impact. From continuing operations, adjusted EPS dropped 31.8% to $0.80.

The operating loss from continuing operations was $822 million, which is less than the operating gain of $910 million in Q4 2021. This is because the Transformational Cost Management Program cost more money and Boots UK had to pay a $783 million non-cash impairment charge for intangible assets.

Fiscal 2023 Outlook, WBA Stock Outlook

The year 2023, according to Brewer, “will be one of increasing core growth and rapidly scaling our U.S. healthcare business.” Walgreens anticipates adjusted earnings per share of $4.45 to $4.65 for the full fiscal year 2023. $4.49 is the consensus EPS estimate.

The company anticipates solid core business growth of 8% to 10% in constant currency, which is anticipated to be more than offset by unfavorable exchange rate changes of 2% and a headwind of 15% to 17% from decreased COVID-19 immunization volumes.

The company increased its fiscal year 2025 U.S. Healthcare sales forecast from $9 to $10 billion to $11 to $12 billion. By the fiscal year 2024, the section should have a positive adjusted EBITDA. Additionally, Walgreens reaffirmed its forecast for adjusted EPS growth in the low teens for the 2025 fiscal year. WBA Stock price was up +6.73% to $34.09 premarket on October 13

Wba Stock Is Down 40% And Paying Its Highest Dividend Yield Ever

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