What happened
Pharmacy chain operator Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA 3.69%) 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.
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.
