Why Rite Aid Earnings Are Good Enough

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 11, 9:45PM EST · Published Jun 28, 9:05AM EDT

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Why Rite Aid Earnings Are Good Enough — © Ildar Sagdejev (Specious) / Wikimedia Commons

When Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) released its fiscal first-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Wednesday, the company said that it had a net loss of $0.01 per share and $5.39 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates had called for a net loss of $0.01 per share on revenue of $5.32 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had a per-share net loss of $0.01 and $5.44 billion in revenue.

During the quarter, retail Pharmacy Segment revenues decreased 1.9% year over year to $3.9 billion due to store closures and a decline in same-store sales. Revenues in the Pharmacy Services Segment were $1.5 billion, an increase of 2.0%.

Same-store sales from Retail Pharmacy continuing operations for the quarter decreased 0.7% compared to the prior year, consisting of a 1.8% decrease in front-end sales and 0.1% decrease in pharmacy sales.

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In the first quarter, the company remodeled 49 stores, bringing the total number of wellness stores chainwide to 1,694. Also in this time, the company sold 281 stores to Walgreens and closed 17 stores, resulting in a total store count of 2,533 at the end of the first quarter.

Looking ahead to the 2019 fiscal full year, Rite Aid expects to see EPS in the range of $0.02 to $0.06 and sales in the range of $21.7 billion to $22.1 billion. Consensus estimates call for $0.02 in EPS and $5.31 billion.

John Standley, Rite Aid board chair and chief executive, commented:

During the first quarter our Retail Pharmacy Segment delivered strong results with an increase in Adjusted EBITDA compared to the prior year for the second consecutive quarter, while our Pharmacy Services Segment results reflect the operating investments we made to support growth. As we continue to focus on taking care of our customers and executing our stand alone strategy, we have the opportunity to further accelerate our strategy by combining with Albertsons to create a truly differentiated leader in food, health and wellness. This combination will enhance our scale and density to better compete in existing markets, give us access to new markets, significantly improve our omni-channel capabilities and create the opportunity to achieve substantial cost synergies and revenue growth, all of which will strengthen our financial profile and position us to deliver compelling long-term value for customers and shareholders.

Shares of Rite Aid closed Wednesday at $1.98, with a consensus analyst price target of $2.00 and a 52-week trading range of $1.38 to $3.12. Following the announcement, the stock was up 1.5% at $2.01 in early trading indications Thursday.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.