Walgreen Company (WAG), a drugstore entity whose major competitors are CVS Caremark (CVS), Rite Aid (RAD), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), reported second-quarter data earlier today; they weren't too thrilling, to be completely honest.

On a reported basis, net income increased three pennies to 68 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, earnings came out to 70 cents per share (this would be after adding back the two pennies dedicated to restructuring charges). Estimates called for 71 cents per share. Poor Walgreen just couldn't keep up with the analysts this time around.

Continue reading Walgreen Company Reports a Not-So-Compelling Second Quarter

Walgreen Company Reports a Not-So-Compelling Second Quarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I'm reiterating my buy ratings the nation's two premier drug store chains: CVS Caremark (CVS), first recommended on February 16, 2009, at a price of $27.30; and Walgreen (WAG), first recommended on February 17, 2009, at a price of $25.46. If you bought CVS in February, you're up 25%; WAG, up about 40%.

As expected, each has performed well on increased store traffic stemming from the H1N1 flu virus (trips to purchase hand sanitizers, other disinfecting items, and flu symptom comforts), which has offset reduced traffic for other drug store trips, due to the U.S. recession.

Continue reading CVS, Walgreen: Pull-Backs Are Buy Opportunities

CVS, Walgreen: Pull-Backs Are Buy Opportunities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Walgreen (WAG), a drugstore chain that competes with CVS Caremark (CVS) and Rite Aid (RAD), issued fiscal Q1 numbers on Monday. The growth rates were impressive.

Total sales were up 9.5%. Net income increased almost 20% to 49 cents per diluted share. Operational cash flow was higher by over three times. According to our earnings preview, analysts were expecting 48 cents per share. Of course, since there were restructuring charges included in the above per-share profit stat (equal to 3 cents per share), the beat is better than it looks. This was indeed a good quarter.

Continue reading Walgreen Achieves Impressive Growth in Q1

Walgreen Achieves Impressive Growth in Q1 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Clorox (NYSE: CLX), a consumer-products business that counts Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) as related stocks, may have seen a sales drop of 1% in its fiscal first quarter, but that didn't stop it from posting a nice bottom-line growth rate. Clorox made $1.11 per share in Q1, and that represents a 23% increase. What a way to start a new corporate year!

According to Reuters, expectations were for 95 cents per share. That's a wonderful beat. Plus, sales volume went up 1%. Helping to drive things along was a healthy gross margin, as well as the dreaded H1N1 virus. Clorox has done well over the years associating its brand with sanitizing effectiveness, so when a pandemic rears its ugly head, the trademark is prepared to leverage such reputation to drive value.

Continue reading Clorox starts its new year off right

Clorox starts its new year off right originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading GAO says H1N1 flu could lead to Internet traffic jams

GAO says H1N1 flu could lead to Internet traffic jams originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: The dollar-stock relation cuts both ways (AMZN, BCRX, XOM, FNM, FITB, GLD)

Closing Bell: The dollar-stock relation cuts both ways (AMZN, BCRX, XOM, FNM, FITB, GLD) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB), a consumer products entity whose colleagues include Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), is up today on third-quarter results. At the time of this writing, my screen was showing shares of Kimberly-Clark higher by a little under 6%.

According to the corporate press release, sales declined 1.7%. Not a great start, but Kimberly-Clark highlighted a better metric: organic sales increased 3%, helped along by price increases. Luckily, sales volume didn't fare too badly; they were essentially flat.

Continue reading Kimberly-Clark high on Q3 data

Kimberly-Clark high on Q3 data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pigs at the Minnesota state fair have tested positive for the H1N1 "swine" flu virus in preliminary tests.

Confirmation tests are pending, but this could be bad news and cause panic within the pork industry. Pork belly futures and companies like Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), Tyson (NYSE: TSN), and Hormel (NYSE: HRL) are a few that could be affected.

Continue reading Swine flu hits pigs -- will pork panic follow?

Swine flu hits pigs -- will pork panic follow? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX) was on the move Tuesday after inking letters of intent with three partners, who will take the lead on stockpiling, marketing, and distribution efforts for the company's influenza treatment in four countries. Marketing and distribution will be contingent upon local regulatory approval, but all three partners will immediately begin discussing stockpiling opportunities with the appropriate government officials.

Moksha8 Pharmaceuticals will be BioCryst's representative in Brazil and Mexico, which together account for 75% of the Latin American pharmaceutical market. Meanwhile, NT Pharma Co. is the company's Chinese partner, and Neopharm Group is taking the reins in Israel.

Continue reading BioCryst Pharma rallies after lining up three flu partners

BioCryst Pharma rallies after lining up three flu partners originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Even though eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe, some Americans and international consumers will still avoid pork, due to the H1N1 flu.

That would typically hurt protein food producers, but Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) has alternatives, namely chicken, which is a major reason I'm reiterating my Buy rating for Tyson Foods, first recommended on May 11, 2009, at a price of $12.35.

Continue reading Consider Tyson, because it will be a 'frugal consumer' era winner

Consider Tyson, because it will be a 'frugal consumer' era winner originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Early trials indicate H1N1 flu vaccine working with just one shot

Early trials indicate H1N1 flu vaccine working with just one shot originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pork producer Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) confessed Tuesday morning to a first-quarter loss of $107.7 million, or 75 cents per share, notably worse than its year-ago loss of just $13.2 million, or 10 cents per share. Excluding one-time charges, SFD would have swallowed a loss of 56 cents per share for the recently concluded quarter. Revenue for the period fell by more than 13% to $2.72 billion.

Both figures fell short of analysts' expectations, which called for a loss of 53 cents per share on $2.82 billion in revenue. Thanks to the twin factors of the recession and the still-spreading H1N1 virus -- a.k.a. the "swine flu" -- Chief Executive Larry Pope said, "I feel like the world has been against us for 12 months." (While H1N1 cannot be contracted by consuming pork products, the pork industry has suffered nevertheless by association.)

Continue reading Smithfield Foods suffers widened quarterly loss

Smithfield Foods suffers widened quarterly loss originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) surged higher out of the gate Thursday after scoring a U.S. patent for its pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccines, including those to shield against H1N1 (swine flu) and H5N1 (avian flu). Both treatments use Vical's patented Vaxfectin adjuvant, which helps to boost immunity.

While the H5N1 vaccine has completed early-stage human trials, the H1N1 vaccine has yet to be tested on human subjects. Positive results have been recorded from tests conducted on mice and rabbits, but VICL said earlier this year that it will require more funding to begin large-scale trials on humans.

Continue reading Vical soars after winning U.S. patent for flu vaccines

Vical soars after winning U.S. patent for flu vaccines originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) gains on UNH swine flu assurances

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) gains on UNH swine flu assurances originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) ships return to Mexico

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) ships return to Mexico originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wall Street was probably encouraged by something else as well. If you take a look at the actual release, head on down to the statement of cash flows. Last year at this time, Tyson generated $144 million in cash from operations during the six-month period. This year, the company made $407 million from operations. Some nice changes in working capital helped out.

Continue reading Tyson beats estimates, stock rallies -- can you buy now?

Tyson beats estimates, stock rallies -- can you buy now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 May 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It was a great weekend for comic book fans. First, Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. I hope you were able to celebrate (I did!). Second, Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) X-Men Origins: Wolverine, licensed to and distributed by News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), opened on Friday.

As expected, it completely annihilated the competition (I would have said clawed the competition, but I'm sure that pun has already been done to death by now) at the domestic box office over the weekend.

Continue reading Was 'Wolverine's' box office that great?

Was 'Wolverine's' box office that great? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 May 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Disney (NYSE: DIS), a media conglomerate that competes with CBS (NYSE: CBS), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), will report fiscal second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, May 5. And it appears that investors should be prepared for a significant decline in the bottom line. Analysts believe that income may drop by over 30% to $0.40 per share. Yep, those magical days of profit growth are, for the time being, a thing of the past.

And it's not difficult to understand why. Disney is battling a recession. Consumers aren't spending money. They need all kinds of promotions and discounts to get them to open their wallets. So, theme parks and consumer products are understandably challenged. And then there's the advertising recession. That affects Disney's media properties. DVD sales? They're not as robust as they used to be. All in all, this is not a great time to be a shareholder of the Mouse.

Continue reading Earnings preview: Will Disney's Q2 be a fun ride?

Earnings preview: Will Disney's Q2 be a fun ride? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 May 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.