Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (NASDAQ: WBA) quarterly profit and sales beat analysts' estimates on Wednesday, as the drugstore chain filled more prescriptions and kept costs down.
The drug retailer also lifted its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to between $5.85 and $6.05 per share from $5.45 to $5.70 per share, reflecting benefits from changes to the U.S. tax code.
Walgreens expects more than $350 million in a cash tax benefit for fiscal year 2018, an increase of about $150 million from its previous estimate.
Same-store sales at Walgreens' U.S. pharmacies rose 5.1% in the quarter.
The company filled 269.2 million prescriptions, up 9.1% from a year ago.
Excluding items, Walgreens earned $1.73 per share. Net sales rose 12% to $33.02 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting a profit of $1.55 per share on revenue of $32.19 billion. .
Net income attributable to the company rose to $1.35 billion, or $1.36 per share, in the second quarter ended Feb. 28, from $1.06 billion, or 98 cents per share, a year earlier.
CEO Stefano Pessina said, "Our growth strategy of increasing and consolidating volume, differentiating ourselves through value and quality of service, and controlling costs is bearing fruit across our businesses.
"This is reflected in another good set of financial results in which we delivered the highest sales growth in eight quarters, as well as strong cash generation and record U.S. pharmacy market share."
Shares of the Deerfield, Illinois-based company rose $1.79, or 2.7% to $67.75 in early Wednesday trading.
