Walgreens shares rise after second-quarter results beat expectations

Walgreens Boots beat the Street's forecasts for its second-quarter earnings and sales, with the US-listed owner of chemist Boots raising its full year guidance for 2018 in the same go.

The biggest US drugstore chain operator's net earnings for the second quarter rose 27.3% to $1.349bn when compared with the same period one year ago.

Diluted earnings per share were $1.36, for growth of 38.8% from a year earlier, while on a non-GAAP basis they came in at $1.73, above the $1.55 that analysts polled by FactSet had projected.

The company also increased its sales by 12.1% to $33.021bn, helped in part by the firm's takeover of almost 2,000 Rite Aid stores.

Also helping the firm's top-line, Walgreens has been focusing on its pharmacy business and added more than 20m members through its partnership with pharmacy benefit managers.

The company also raised its 2018 guidance for adjusted diluted net earnings per share from a range of between $5.45 to $5.70 from a prior projection of between $5.85 - $6.05.

Management also bumped-up its expectations for the benefits from recently-enacted changes to US tax laws, saying it now anticipated in excess of $350m in fiscal 2018, compared with a previously announced estimate of more than $200m.