Walgreens (WBA) Earnings Q1 2025

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People walk through a Walgreens in Brooklyn, Massachusetts on November 3, 2024.

Danielle DeVries CNBC

Walgreens reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter revenue and earnings on Friday, as it shutters stores and cuts other costs to get itself out of trouble.

Walgreens reported a three-month period of 2018. Compared to Wall Street expectations ended Nov. 30, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 51 cents adjusted from 37 cents expected
Income: 39.46 billion dollars is expected from 37.36 billion dollars

Even after the big hits, Walgreens maintained its fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings guidance of $1.40 to $1.80 per share. The company did not include annual sales guidance in the release. In October, Walgreens said it expected revenue of $147 billion to $151 billion for the fiscal year.

The company’s shares jumped nearly 10% in premarket trading.

Walgreens has had a rocky descent over the past year, characterized by pharmacy payment pressures, soft consumer spending and challenges related to its push into primary care, among other issues. The results will come Among the reports The company is in talks to sell itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

In the fiscal first quarter, Walgreens posted sales of $39.46 billion, up 7.5% from the same period a year ago, as its three business units grew.

The company reported a net loss of $265 million, or 31 cents per share, in the fiscal first quarter. That compares with a loss of $67 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Walgreens said the loss was primarily due to higher operating losses, part of its multi-year plan to close underperforming stores. That includes 1,200 over the next three years, and 500 in fiscal 2025 alone.

Walgreens has approximately 8,500 retail pharmacies across the US website.

Excluding certain items, adjusted earnings were 51 cents in the quarter.

First quarter results compare our priority challenges through 2025: stabilizing retail pharmacy, improving our footprint, controlling operating costs, improving cash flow and continuing to address reimbursement models.

He added, “While our transformation will take time, our past progress reinforces our belief in a sustainable, retail pharmacy-led operating model.”

Growth in all business segments

Walgreens reported growth in all three of its business units during the first quarter of its fiscal year.

The company’s US retail pharmacy division generated sales of $30.87 billion, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year. Analysts had expected sales of $29.21 billion, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount.

That division manages the company’s drug stores, which sell prescription and over-the-counter drugs as well as health and wellness, beauty, personal care and food products.

Walgreens said pharmacy sales rose 10.4 percent in the quarter, and comparable pharmacy sales rose 12.7 percent.

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Prescriptions filled in the quarter, including vaccines, totaled 316.3 million, up 1.5% from the same period a year ago. Retail sales fell 6.2 percent from the year-ago quarter, and comparable retail sales fell 4.6 percent. The company cited weak cough, cold and flu season and lower sales in indifferent product categories.

Revenue from the company’s U.S. healthcare division rose to $2.17 billion in the fiscal year, up more than 12 percent from the same period a year ago. Analysts had expected sales of $2.09 billion, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount.

That partly reflects the growth of primary care provider VillageMD and specialty pharmacy company Shield Health Solutions. Specialty pharmacies are designed to provide drugs with unique handling, storage and dispensing requirements, often to patients with complex conditions.

Walgreens’ international unit, which operates more than 3,000 retail stores abroad, posted sales of $6.43 billion in the fiscal year. This shows an increase of 10.2 percent compared to last year.

Analysts had expected revenue of $5.85 billion for the period, StreetAccount reported.

The company reported a 4.5% increase in sales from UK drugstore chain Boots.