Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) closed the latest trading day at $10.98, indicating a +0.46% change from the previous session's end. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.47%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 1.39%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.51%.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. drugstore chain had lost 1.18% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.12% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.47% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Walgreens Boots Alliance in its upcoming release. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.34, marking a 46.03% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $36.66 billion, up 0.85% from the year-ago period.

WBA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.66 per share and revenue of $151.49 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -42.36% and +2.59%, respectively.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 3.25% higher. Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Walgreens Boots Alliance is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 6.58. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 5.03.

Meanwhile, WBA's PEG ratio is currently 1.32. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.76.

Story Continues

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, which puts it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA):Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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