Proactive Investors - Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Inc (NASDAQ:WBA, ETR:W8A) shares plunged 25% on Thursday after the pharmacy giant lowered its full-year profit guidance, warned more US store closures are to come, and delivered fiscal third quarter earnings below estimates.
For the full year, Walgreens now expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $2.80 to $2.95 from its prior forecast of $3.20 to $3.35 and below the $3.21 expected by analysts.
"We continue to face a difficult operating environment, including persistent pressures on the US consumer and the impact of recent marketplace dynamics which have eroded pharmacy margins," CEO Tim Wentworth.
“Our results and outlook reflect these headwinds, despite solid performance in both our International and US Healthcare segments.”
In a post-earnings call with analysts, Wentworth did not say exactly how many stores Walgreens expects to close but implied it could be as much as a quarter of its 8,600 stores.
“75% of our stores drive 100% of our profitability today,” Wentworth said. “What that means is the others we take a hard look at, we are going to finalize a number that we will close.”
For the fiscal third quarter, ending May 31, adjusted EPS was $0.63, missing estimates of $0.67.
Sales of $36.4 billion, however, were ahead of estimates of about $36 billion.
Shares of Walgreens were down 25.1% at $11.73 in the early afternoon on Thursday.