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Walgreen Co.

5/26/2013, 2:37 AM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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Tuesday, May 21, 5:40 AM Goldman Sachs lifts its forecasts for the S&P 500 (SPY), as David Kostin and company now say they expect the index to gain 5% by year-end to 1,750, 9% to 1,900 in 2014, and 10% to 2,100 in 2015. The rationale: expectations of above-trend real GDP growth beginning next year (Mr. Evans' "escape velocity" ?) coupled with P/E multiple expansion to 16x. Furthermore, dividends should rise ~30% over the next two years, bolstering the firm's claim that dividend-paying equities (DVY) are one of the only places U.S. investors can look to for income-generation. Some of GS's dividend picks, as listed on MarketWatch: Mattel (MAT), Ford (F), Philip Morris (PM), Walgreen (WAG), Chevron (CVX), U.S. Bancorp (USB), GE, Western Union (WU), Dow Chemical (DOW), and AT&T (T). 11 Comments
Friday, May 17, 12:48 PM Walgreen (WAG +1.3%) and Alliance Boots receive the regulatory clearances for their equity investment in AmerisourceBergen (ABC +0.4%). The clearances permit both to purchase up to 7% of ABC in the open market, and the exercise of two warrants for 16% in the aggregate in 2016 and 2017. Comment! [Healthcare, M&A, On the Move]
Friday, May 17, 12:41 PM Wal-Mart isn't the only retailer dealing with negative publicity on doing a poor job of keeping store shelves stocked after The Consumerist blog calls out Walgreen (WAG +0.7%) for the same issue. An advocacy group released a detailed study showing an excessively high percentage of out of stock and mislabeled items at the Walgreens chain of stores. What to watch: Walgreen has a lot riding on its well-publicized Balance Rewards program and needs to keep customer retention high to realize profit estimates off the program. Comment!
Monday, May 6, 9:23 AM Pfizer (PFE) plans to start selling Viagra online, according to an AP report. The initiative could serve as a test run by Big Pharma over disrupting its current model to look at online distribution for treatments viewed as more embarrassing to buy in person. Drugstore operators (CVS, WAG, RAD) will be watching the development very carefully. PFE -0.1% premarket. 2 Comments [Healthcare, Consumer]
Friday, May 3, 8:10 AM Walgreen (WAG) reports April sales increased 3.8% to $5.76B as pharmacy sales helped offset slower front-end sales. Sales in comparable stores increased by 1.2% during the month. The company says more Express Scripts customers returned to its pharmacies but didn't break down the number. Comment! [Consumer]
Tuesday, April 30, 10:04 AM A combined read of Redbook and ICSCS-Goldman's data on chain store sales indicates the late start to the spring season could take its toll on apparel sellers. Despite the choppy start to Q2, chain-store sales are still heading for a 2%-3% gain during the month compared to last year. Possible April winners: Drugstores [Walgreen (WAG), Rite Aid (RAD), CVS Caremark (CVS)] and wholesale clubs [Costco (COST), PriceSmart (PSMT), BJ's Wholesale]. Comment! [Consumer, U.S. Economy]
Friday, April 19, 4:46 PM Looking for signals from insiders? Walgreen (WAG) director Stefan Passina reportedly buys $4M worth of company stock at an average price of $48.62 per share. Comment!
Saturday, April 13, 8:25 AM When looking for dividend stocks, Kelley Wright believes a company isn't necessarily more attractive just because it pays a higher dividend. The key is when a stock's current yield is at the high end of the range of past yields; a strong balance sheet and a consistent pattern of higher earnings and rising dividends help too. Wright's top 10: APD, ADM, KO, COP, CVX, OXY, PEP, RS, TXN, WAG. 19 Comments [Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, April 10, 4:41 PM Walgreen (WAG) declares $0.275/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 2.29%. For shareholders of record May 21. Payable June 12. Ex-div date May 17. (PR) Comment! [Dividends]
Tuesday, April 9, 8:35 AM The race to provide charging stations for electric vehicles heats up on the West Coast after Kroger (KR) joins Walgreen (WAG), Whole Foods (WFM), and IKEA to provide customers parking lot charging stations. What to watch: Retailers continue to slowly edge into the field in an effort not to get left behind, but until a major restaurant chain (say McDonald's (MCD)?) jumps in with a partnership to offer a national network of charging stations along major interstates the phenomenon will remain a primarily limited to affluent urban areas. 26 Comments [Consumer]
Thursday, April 4, 12:51 PM Health experts forecast this season's allergy season will be extremely harsh. As a result, drug store chains such as Rite Aid (RAD -3.7%), CVS Caremark (CVS +1.9%), and Walgreen (WAG +0.4%) are expecting a mild bounce in April store traffic due to the development. (Previous on March sales: WAG, RAD) Comment! [Consumer]
Thursday, April 4, 12:11 PM Walgreen (WAG +0.3%) says sales at comparable stores rose 0.7% in March with a nice bounce in average customer basket size offsetting lower store traffic. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased by 4% during the month. Comment! [Consumer]
Thursday, March 28, 9:18 AM Look for a new report from Consumer Reports on the cost of prescription drugs at retail chains to create some buzz. Analysis by the publication shows that consumers can save as much as $100 a month by comparison shopping. Costco (COST) came in the low end of the scale for generic drug prices while CVS Caremark (CVS) was the highest. Drugstore chains (WAG, RAD) could face increasing pricing pressure with big box retailers more willing to use low prices at their pharmacies as a traffic driver. 4 Comments [Consumer, Healthcare]
Wednesday, March 20, 2:50 PM AmerisourceBergen (ABC +0.5%) catches an updraft from Citigroup today, after the firm raised its rating to Buy, and ups its price target from $48 to $62. Citi considers the deal with Walgreens (WAG) and Alliance Boots for generic and branded drugs to be transformational because it significantly expands ABC's international reach and adds significant purchasing power to all three companies. The deal is expected to add $2B in FY13 revenue, $25B in FY14, and over $28B annually after fully ramped up. Comment! [Healthcare, Consumer]
Wednesday, March 20, 7:22 AM JPMorgan upgrades its stance on Walgreen (WAG) to Overweight from Neutral and aggressively takes its price target up to $55 from $41. 1 Comment [Consumer]
Tuesday, March 19, 6:53 AM Walgreen (WAG): FQ2 EPS of $0.96 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $18.65B misses by $0.07B. (PR) Comment! [Earnings, Breaking News]

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