Report
Valens Research

WBA - Embedded Expectations Analysis - 2018 02 08

─ Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA:USA) currently trades around corporate averages relative to UAFRS-based (Uniform) Earnings, with a 20.0x Uniform P/E, implying somewhat bullish expectations for the firm. However, management has concerns about strategic partnerships, European markets, and growth

─ Specifically, management may be concerned about their reduced stake in their main wholesale partner in China, and may be exaggerating the benefits they are seeing from the upgrade of the existing Walgreens business model in pharmacy and in retail. Furthermore, they may be concerned about their strategic partnership with FedEx, and may also be concerned about operations in European markets due to Brexit and governments pushing down margins for pharmacies. Moreover, they may lack confidence in the sustainability of sales growth, as well as expectations for slower declines in comparable retail sales. Finally, they may be exaggerating how well their beauty offering has been received, and may also be exaggerating their satisfaction regarding their clinic partnerships
Underlying
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc

Walgreens Boots Alliance is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is engaged in retail and wholesale pharmacy. The company's operations are organized into three divisions, which are also its reportable segments: Retail Pharmacy USA; Retail Pharmacy International; and Pharmaceutical Wholesale. The Retail Pharmacy USA division has pharmacy-led health and beauty retail offerings. The Retail Pharmacy International division has pharmacy-led health and beauty retail businesses. The Pharmaceutical Wholesale division, which mainly operates under the Alliance Healthcare brand, supplies medicines, other healthcare products and related services to pharmacies, doctors, health centers and hospitals.

Provider
Valens Research
Valens Research

In 2009, just as the dust was settling from the last major equity and credit market crises, we launched a boutique research firm with the intention of breaking Wall Street’s biases and broken incentives:

  • GAAP and IFRS have failed to provide rules for reliable financial statement reporting
  • Stock analyst recommendations are not grounded in disciplined financial analysis
  • Credit agencies have been set up to grossly fail in their responsibilities to investors and the public markets
  • Utter lack of willingness of major research firms to employ the the most advanced forensic analysis available

We sought to provide investors and company analysts with a source of information that changed all that.
Many years later, our business model remains because little has changed on Wall Street.

  • Corporate credit ratings remain years behind the fundamental underpinnings of company performance
  • Stock analysts continue to make recommendations with deeply inherent biases
  • Research firms have failed to break down the walls between credit, equity, and macroeconomic research
  • The governing accounting bodies have created more leeway for mis-estimates and mis-classifications as financials have become unwieldy and overwhelming

The integrity of Valens Research is founded in our disciplined processes and analytics. No “star” analysts. No corporate advisory relationships. No-nonsense opinions and recommendations.

Analysts
Valens Research

Other Reports on these Companies
Other Reports from Valens Research

ResearchPool Subscriptions

Get the most out of your insights

Get in touch