Walgreens Boots Alliance has appointed Tim Wentworth, a seasoned healthcare executive and former CEO of Express Scripts, the nation's largest pharmacy benefits management firm, which Cigna acquired in 2018, as its new CEO starting October 23.
Incoming Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth briefly commended the pharmacy staff during the fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call but made no reference to the recent three-day walkouts protesting chronic understaffing and poor working conditions.
On Thursday, Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson, who holds an "In Line" rating on Walgreens stock and a $21 price target, characterized the results as slightly below expectations.
For the 2023 fiscal year ending on August 31, the company reported earnings of $3.98 per share on an adjusted basis, a decline from $5.04 in 2022 and $4.91 in 2021. Analysts had anticipated $4 per share.
In the fourth quarter, adjusted earnings stood at 67 cents per share, slightly under the 69 cents estimated by FactSet. Sales totaled $35.4 billion, marginally below the $34.8 billion estimate.
Walgreens provided a 2024 adjusted earnings per share projection, ranging from $3.20 to $3.50, notably lower than the FactSet consensus estimate of $3.71.
Shares have plummeted 39.5% this year, despite a high 8.4% dividend yield, raising questions about sustainability. In the past five years, Walgreens' stocks fell 70.3%, whereas the S&P 500 rose 55.7%.