Irrelevance is an intractable opponent. If your grandparents grew up in a major city, talk to them about what the neighborhoods used to look like. Chances are there were certain staples like a neighborhood butcher shop, a neighborhood bakery, a neighborhood dry goods store and a local bar (or three). A lot of this has frankly disappeared over the years, and Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) needs to be creative and aggressive if it is going to stay relevant in a landscape where the core drug business is increasingly moving out of drugstores. (For more on retail stores, read The 4 R's Of Investing In Retail.)
An Okay End to the Fiscal Year
Walgreen's fiscal fourth quarter results were solid but a bit confusing, as a lower tax rate and share count did help boost reported earnings per share. Sales rose more than 6% on better than 4% comps, putting Walgreen ahead of other drugstore rivals CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS) and Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) in terms of sales momentum. Drug sales were up about a percentage point less than overall sales, but the comp sales were similar, and prescription drugs are still about two-thirds of the sales base.
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