What happened
Pharmacy chain operator Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA +0.00%) might have been tempted to reach for a bottle of its own painkillers on Wednesday. The company's stock fell by over 3%, a steeper tumble than the 1.7% suffered by the S&P 500 index, on a pair of minor analyst price target cuts.
So what
Both modifications were extremely modest -- UBS prognosticator Kevin Caliendo trimmed $1 from his Walgreens target to land at $39 per share. His peer, Elizabeth Anderson at Evercore ISI, also lowered hers by the same amount; her new level is $35 per share. Both maintained their equivalents of a hold recommendation.
It wasn't immediately clear why either analyst made their adjustment to Walgreens' price target. These weren't exactly surprising moves, though, as the company is less than a week away from its latest earnings release.
Analysts often modify their takes on covered stocks in the days before earnings are published, although post-release changes are more common.
NASDAQ: WBA
Key Data Points
Now what
Walgreens has scheduled next Tuesday, March 28, as the release date for its fiscal second quarter of 2023 figures. These will be followed by a one-hour conference call with management; both events are to take place before market open.
Collectively, analysts like Caliendo and Anderson aren't expecting a blowout quarter for the pharmacy operator. Their average estimate for per-share net income is $1.10, down some distance from the $1.59 Walgreens posted in the same quarter of fiscal 2022. Those prognosticators are also expecting a decline in revenue, although at a less precipitous rate -- they're modeling $33.4 billion against the year-ago tally of $33.8 billion.
