Walgreen Co. (WAG) sales on the rise

Even when the economy struggles, people still need medicine, diapers, personal-care products, and large boxes of candy. This explains the continued sales growth at Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG), which saw same-store sales in February jump 8.3%. Strong Valentine's Day sales and a particularly violent flu season helped boost demand at the pharmaceutical retailer.

Excluding the extra shopping day due to Leap Year, same-store sales were up 4.2%. Same-store sales in the chain's pharmacies rose 8.3% and climbed 4.1% excluding February 29. Sales from the pharmacy were modestly impacted by the transition of popular allergy medicine Zyrtec to an over-the-counter version. In turn, the appearance of Zyrtec on the regular shelves positively impacted general-merchandise (or front-end) sales, which rose 8.2% in February, or 4.6% excluding the extra shopping day.

The impact of these sales on the bottom line will be more apparent late this month; WAG is currently scheduled to report its quarterly earnings results on March 24. According to First Call estimates, Wall Street is expecting per-share results of 67 cents, or two pennies better than year-ago figures.

In late-morning trading, WAG shares have risen 0.8%. The shares have shown recent strength, tacking on nearly 13% since their late-January nadir.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.