Walgreens stock jumps as profit and sales fall but beat expectations, long-term U.S. Healthcare targets raised

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
WBA,
-2.05%
jumped 5.5% in premarket trading Thursday, after the drug store and healthcare services company reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales that fell but topped expectations, and raised its long-term target for its U.S. Healthcare business. On a net basis, the company swung to a loss of $415 million, or 48 cents a share, for the quarter to Aug. 31, from income of $627 million, or 72 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as impairment charges related to intangible assets in Boots UK, adjusted earnings per share of 80 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 77 cents. Sales grew 5.3% to $32.45 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $32.09 billion. U.S. retail pharmacy sales fell 7.2% to $26.7 billion while same-store sales increased 1.6%. Cost of sales fell 2.7% to $26.04 billion, as gross margin contracted to 19.8% from 21.9%. Looking ahead, the company expects fiscal 2023 adjusted EPS of $4.45 to $4.65, which surrounds the FactSet consensus of $4.51, and the U.S. Healthcare fiscal 2025 sales target was raised to $11 billion to $12 billion from $9 billion to $10 billion. The stock has dropped 14.2% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.10%
has declined 5.1%.