Walgreens (WAG) October Comps Rose 5.6%

Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) had October sales of $6.80 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent from $6.36 billion for the same month in fiscal 2014.

Total front-end sales increased 2.7 percent in October compared with the same month in fiscal 2014, while comparable store front-end sales increased 2.0 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1.9 percent while basket size increased 3.9 percent.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased by 3.6 percent in October and increased 4.1 percent on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis. October 2014 had one additional Friday and one fewer Tuesday compared with October 2013. These calendar shifts negatively impacted prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 0.5 percentage point. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores were positively impacted by 0.7 percentage point due to more flu shots versus last year.

October pharmacy sales increased by 9.9 percent. Comparable store pharmacy sales increased 7.5 percent and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 8.0 percent. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 0.5 percentage point. Calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 1.9 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months, and were positively impacted by 0.4 percentage point due to more flu shots versus last year. Pharmacy sales accounted for 67.3 percent of total sales for the month.

Flu shots administered at pharmacies and clinics season to date were more than 5.7 million versus approximately 4.9 million last year.

Sales in comparable stores increased by 5.6 percent in October. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.3 percentage point, while more flu shots versus last year positively impacted total comparable sales by 0.3 percentage point. Generic drug introductions in the last 12 months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 1.3 percentage points.

Calendar 2014 year-to-date sales for the first 10 months were $64.15 billion, an increase of 6.1 percent from $60.47 billion in 2013.

Fiscal 2015 year-to-date sales for the first two months were $13.22 billion, up 7.7 percent from $12.28 billion in the comparable period in fiscal 2014.

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