Walgreens cuts annual profit forecast after quarterly miss
Pharmacy chain falls 8% after ‘most difficult quarter’ since the merger with Alliance Boots
Bengaluru — Walgreens Boots Alliance cut its 2019 profit growth forecast on Tuesday as the drugstore chain struggles with falling generic drug prices in a crowded market, sending its shares down 8%. The company also reported a quarterly profit that missed Wall Street estimates and said macro trends had resulted in the “most difficult quarter” for the company since the merger of Alliance Boots and Walgreens. The company reduced its adjusted earnings growth forecast for financial 2019 from a range of 7%-12% growth to roughly flat, at constant currency rates. The magnitude of the cut surprised some Wall Street analysts, who had expected it after the company had warned about increased competition and reimbursement pressures at its pharmacies. “This was truly a terrible print, as most metrics missed materially,” Evercore ISI analyst Ross Muken said in a note. Muken said the deterioration in the US pharmacy is particularly concerning and he does not expect the management to be able to ins...
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