Walgreens Boots Alliance topped Wall Street forecasts for its fiscal first quarter, helped partially by a sales boost provided by stores acquired from smaller rival Rite Aid. Walgreens spent more than $4 billion to acquire nearly 2,000 stores from Rite Aid in a deal it closed last year. Walgreens said Thursday that it saw its profit jump 37 percent to $1.12 billion in this year's first quarter. Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.43 per share on $33.58 billion in revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research. Drugstore chains are getting more active in trying to manage customer health as they face retail sales pressure from competitors like the online giant Amazon.com.

Source: ABC News December 20, 2018 23:15 UTC