Walgreens Boots Alliance Second-quarter Sales Fall Short

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. shares dipped 0.7% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the drug store chain posted weaker-than-expected sales for its fiscal second quarter. Walgreens said it had net earnings of $930 million, or 85 cents a share, in the quarter, down sharply from $2.04 billion, or $1.93 a share, in the year-earlier period when the company benefited from a non-cash gain of $814 million. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1.31, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.28. Sales rose 13.6% to $30.2 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $30.7 billion. The company said it is raising the low end of its EPS guidance for fiscal 2016 by 5 cents to $4.35 to $4.55, which wraps around the current FactSet consensus of $4.48. Shares are up 1.4% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained just 1.1%.