Walgreens Boots Dips 1% Following Q2 Results & 2016 Guidance Update

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA) were trading lower by more than 1 percent early Tuesday morning after the company reported its second-quarter results.

Walgreens Boots said that it earned $1.31 per share in the second quarter on revenue of $30.18 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.28 per share on revenue of $30.66 billion.

Neat earnings attributable to the company rose 14.4 percent from a year ago to $1.4 billion. Combined net synergies were $329 million in the quarter and totaled $617 million in the first six months of the fiscal year. The company reaffirmed its commitment to realizing at least $1.0 billion in net synergies throughout the fiscal year.

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Walgreens Boots also noted that its proposed acquisition of Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is "progressing as planned," and the transaction is expected to close in the second half of calendar 2016.

Looking Ahead

Looking forward to the remainder of the fiscal year, Walgreen Boots now expects its earnings per share to fall in a range of $4.35 to $4.55, marking a 5 cent per share raise of the low end of its guidance. Wall Street analysts are expecting the company to earn $4.48 per share in the fiscal year.

Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Stefano Pessina said, "I am pleased with how we are working across the company to transform our businesses and position ourselves for success in rapidly changing markets. In addition, we continued to make good progress in the quarter in reducing costs and establishing more efficient working practices, which contributed to overall adjusted earnings growth. Looking ahead, we remain on track to achieve our expectations for this fiscal year, as we work to mitigate lower pharmacy reimbursement rates and challenging retail sales environments."

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