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DEERFIELD, Ill. — Increased demand for COVID-19 tests and vaccines, driven by the Omicron variant’s surge, helped Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (WBA’s) second quarter results beat Wall Street’s forecasts.
WBA reported adjusted earnings of $1.59 per share in the three months ended February 28. Revenue rose 3% from the year-ago period to $33.76 billion. Analysts’ consensus estimates were adjusted earnings of $1.38 per share and $33.23 billion in revenue.
Walgreens administered 11.8 million vaccinations and 6.6 million tests in the period and posted same-store front-end sales growth of 14.7%, its highest rate in over 20 years.
“Second quarter results demonstrated broad-based execution, driving strong comparable sales and robust earnings growth,” said chief executive officer Roz Brewer. “We continue to make important strides along our strategic priorities, building a consumer-centric, technology-enabled health care enterprise at the center of local communities. VillageMD and Shields are delivering tremendous pro forma sales growth compared to their year-ago stand-alone results, and our Walgreens Health segment is on track toward long-term targets. The strategic review of our Boots business is progressing, and our transformational actions are accelerating sustainable value creation.”
Sales increased 3.8% on a constant currency basis. The performance reflects sales growth at Walgreens and in the International segment, and contributions from the Walgreens Health segment due to the recent acquisitions and consolidation of VillageMD and Shields, partly offset by a decline in sales at AllianceRx Walgreens.
Net earnings were $883 million compared to $922 million a year earlier, reflecting robust operating performance offset by the company’s equity investments, including the lapping of a gain on the partial sale of the equity method investment in Option Care Health in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted net earnings increased 25.8% to $1.4 billion, up 26.4% on a constant currency basis.
The U.S. segment had second quarter sales of $27.7 billion, an increase of 1.2% from the year-ago quarter, partly offset by a decline in the AllianceRx Walgreens business. Comparable sales increased 9.5%.
