Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA) Options

Nice move!

It will happen! The short funds are overplaying their hands.

They need to close stores and sell the real estate in areas where they have too many and especially where crime is too high.

They need to completely leave cities that allow shoplifting altogether!

When a short squeeze occurs, the stock should do well

Interesting thank you

I heard that each store has a value of $60 million.
That sounds pretty high. I know they own very much prime real estate. Remember Kmart? There are only so many prime corners in cities and towns!

I know of a location where they bought a restaurant, and several houses just to tear them down and build a store!

WBA trading at 52-week lows coming off of the recent announcement week before last of the $106.8 Million payment to settle the legal action over prescription drug billing in the industry. Morningstar has WBA rated at its top 5 Star rating, and 10%+ of WBA's outstanding shares are sold short in short position. Hmmmmm....

Agree. The Boots merger was a mistake in hindsight, and Stefano Pessina took over and made decisions that benefited himself over the company. the Opioid crisis and resulting huge legal settlements hurt WBA and other similarly situated tickers in this space badly. This share price isa a bargain and it is highly doubtful that we will see another dividend cut.

All good. WBA is definitely very undervalued.

I agree with you on all points. I do have one question about the value per each store. I heard that each store has a value of $60 million. Have you heard that same amount or I may be confused with another public company? It seems too high.

Not a bad thought.

There are many that think WBA is going to go the way of Rite Aid. No way. They just made the mistake of a DEI and woke CEO hire and that is now in the rearview mirror!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2023/09/01/roz-brewer-out-as-walgreens-ceo/

While Amazon has taken some of their business, the stores and pharmacies are always busy. I pass a Wags every few miles. Too many stores. I also notice that many (if not most) Boomers use them almost exclusively for their needs.

Maybe a long position at these price levels protected by a long term put for price protection is the play on this one?

I got it from FactSet but it looked wrong to me also.

I reviewed its balance sheet and found it to be decent even after the large loss to retained earnings. FactSet shows 22 groups gave it an average hold rating.

I disagree with several of those conclusions. The fact of the matter is, WBA got the best Rite Aid locations and the best performing stores, and Rite Aid failed miserably after that. the bigger problem was the Boots merger and the Europe problem, not to mention Stefano Pessina taking complete control and running it down. Then the Opioid settlements negatively impacted everything. I agree with Stock Barber and your first post that WBA is seriously undervalued here at these levels. Don't know where that negative Book Value number came from. The services I see have the Book Value at $15.80

Actually, WBA is very very cheap here. I know people who work at the HQ, and they are certainly not worried about the future.

There is a large short position here, and they will have to cover at some point!

The tangible book value per share is a -$25

“The company is controlled by one man who doesn’t want to take it into bankruptcy.  The reality is that he should allow the company to go bankrupt, then renegotiate all the debt.  If he does that, you might get screwed.  

They did a terrible deal with Rite Aid. Originally, they would merge, but the feds wouldn’t let them so they ended up taking only the shitty stores and lots of debt.”

From a friend.

I’m looking at buying Walgreens stock. I like the fact that the enterprise value is twice its market capitalization and it pays an annual dividend of $1.23 or a 14.37% yield. Although 22 brokers give it an average rating of a hold, the target price is $11.50. Thoughts?

Walgreens Boots Alliance's (NYSE:WBA) short percent of float has risen 25.05% since its last report. The company recently reported that it has 82.91 million shares sold short, which is 13.18% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, it would take traders 4.25 days to cover their short positions on average.

https://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=WBA&insttype=Stock

WBA epic failure just like PARA and WBD

Will this go the way of Sears?? If not if you catch the bottom it's a lot of Money 💰 to be made!!

I’m down 60% since the pandemic. I’m selling once divvies get paid out this month.

It has been a rough ride since the Boots merger and creation of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). The WAG days were much better, you might say stellar. Stephano Pessina made out like a bandit and ran the company down. The Opioid legal claims and resulting settlements also negatively impacted WBA, not to mention this latest $2.7 Billion IRS claim for taxes, etc.

This is the dregs of retail pharmacies…

Prudent Capitalist: thanks for the information. Yes. That makes it clear for today's "implosion" in the share price. GLTY

Today's drop is News driven;
Walgreens Boots Alliance Hit With IRS $2.7 Billion Tax Claim
Caleb Harshberger
April 1, 2024, 11:39?AM CDT

The IRS is seeking $2.7 billion in unpaid taxes from Walgreens Boots Alliance due to alleged issues over transfer pricing, following audits of previous tax years, the company reported in recent filings.

The agency issued a Revenue Agent’s Report last quarter, saying it had audited the company’s 2014 to 2017 tax years, filings said. The agency found issues related to transfer pricing and is seeking an additional $2.7 billion plus penalties and interest.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns two major retail pharmacy chains — Walgreens in the US and Boots in the UK—said it disagrees with the report and plans to appeal, filings say, and that could take more than a year to resolve.

“The Company intends to vigorously defend its position on the transfer pricing matter through the IRS’s administrative appeals office and, if necessary, judicial proceedings and is confident in its ability to prevail on the merits,” filings said.

Walgreens Boots Alliance didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-tax-report/walgreens-boots-alliance-hit-with-irs-2-7-billion-tax-claim

Sure

A sudden WBA share price implosion followed: WBA share price had a TRIPLE BOTTOM BREAKDOWN today, on 01-April-2024.

I have no shares in the company and no plans to buy any.

The good news is that my Google shares are flying and a new yearly high occurred. GLTY & GLTA

I don’t think so………

Walgreen share price DOUBLE TOP BREAKOUT yesterday, on 28-March-2024. GLTA

Walgreens has seriously reduced staffing in its pharmacies and is now filing a significant percentage of prescriptions from regional distribution center operations several states away and shipping them into the pharmacies. I have had it take 3 days to get a script, and then when it comes it is only a 30-day fill instead of the 90-days that it is re-filling, and then the 30 little tablets come in a huge wide bottle such that the 30 pills do not even cover the bottom. SMH..

WBA stumbled on the Boots acquisition. CVS dividend yield is just 3.27%, but WBA's will be only 4%or so after the significant cut and WBA's yield is inflated on a percentage basis due to the low stock price.

Infuriating waiting in a checkout line behind smelly toothless idiots buying cigarettes and lottery tickets. I encounter that at my gas station.

What explains the outperformance of CVS
Attempted wokeism and DEI at WBA...

It only takes one unqualified CEO to almost destroy a company! Several on the BOD need to go as well...

Those days are over!

👢

Yeah, I don't believe that makes ANY difference. IMHO

One stark difference: CVS stopped selling cigarettes in 2014. WBA still sells them. .

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/14/walgreens-tobacco-sales-under-real-scrutiny-new-ceo-roz-brew-says-.html

WBA lags CVS by miles according to all the major metrics. Here's CVS' recent quarterly dividends which are still growing nicely. What explains the outperformance of CVS?

Date Dividends
Oct 19, 2023 0.605 Dividend
Jul 20, 2023 0.605 Dividend
Apr 20, 2023 0.605 Dividend
Jan 19, 2023 0.605 Dividend
Oct 20, 2022 0.55 Dividend
Jul 21, 2022 0.55 Dividend
Apr 21, 2022 0.55 Dividend
Jan 20, 2022 0.55 Dividend
Oct 21, 2021 0.50 Dividend
Jul 22, 2021 0.50 Dividend
Apr 22, 2021 0.50 Dividend
Jan 21, 2021 0.50 Dividend

Right on, I got out yesterday. Good Luck

That had been raised as a possibility. The current dividend is 8% at today's share price and that is rich for a stock like this. But anything in the 4% range is not chicken feed and should benefit the share price. This company has badly needed new executive leadership since the Stephano Pessina debacle after the Boots merger. Nothing has been the same since the old WAG days pre-Boots.

Actually, I think it was pretty much expected, even though they had never cut it before.

The previous CEO sucked. So much for the strategy of hiring a diversity candidate vs. the best qualified! Anyway, that's in the past...

No worries. I'll still be holding my core position a decade from now.

I was hoping to build on the dividend but the cut isn't looking good at all.

What else will they cut next? Stores? Big Pharma is projected to cave with new health discoveries coming out with breakthrough all natural treatments and remedies.

Walgreens Just Slashed Its Dividend. Stock Is Plunging

"Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance fell by more than 10% after the pharmacy chain said it is cutting its quarterly dividend by nearly half. Walgreens shares initially jumped 2.4% in premarket trading following the announcement, but tumbled 11% as the regular session began. Adjusted earnings for the first quarter of Walgreens’ fiscal year, disclosed along with the news of the dividend cut, were 66 cents a share, beating the 62 cents a share consensus estimate among analysts tracked by FactSet, and down from $1.16 a share in the same quarter last year."

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/ee25515a-b35b-34e4-8abb-923112313e77/walgreens-just-slashed-its.html

One of the reasons I invested in it.....they were one of the few that kept it fat.....now lose half the div and our SP getting demolished.

Great? They just cut the dividend 48% SMH

The dividend here is great, but they need to get the ship back on track. Ever since WAG let itself be taken over by the boots Alliance and Stephano Pessina, things went south. Reinvesting the fat dividends down here helps with the cost averaging on the positions.

Still holding in my kids' account. My main investment method is to buy the highest quality div-paying blue chips and almost never sell. That doesn't always work, but it works over half the time. I'm certainly not adding or reinvesting dividends. BTW, current WBA div yield is 7.49% according to Finviz today..

Just bought.....LET this be a winner!

Yes indeed!

But a nice share price recovery here this week for WBA.