Walgreens falls most since 2020 as forecast cut on fading demand
BNN Bloomberg
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. shares fell the most in three years after the drugstore chain slashed its fiscal-year profit forecast, hurt by fading pandemic demand and a slow transition deeper into health care.
Annual adjusted earnings will be US$4 to $4.05 a share for the year ending in August, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company said Tuesday in a statement, down from the earlier range of $4.45 to $4.65. Adjusted earnings for the third-quarter were $1 a share, short of analysts’ average estimate of $1.06.
Walgreens fell as much as 11 per cent to $28.14, their lowest level since late 2010 and their biggest intraday loss since Nov. 17, 2020, when online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. said it would expand its push into US prescription drug sales. Rival CVS Health Corp. fell 1.6 per cent.
“There has been a steep drop-off in COVID vaccines and testing, and with the end of the public-health emergency we are also experiencing a slower profit ramp for US health care,” Chief Executive Officer Roz Brewer said on an earnings call.
