Walgreen Q4 Profit Surges

Walgreen reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $792 million or $0.87 per share, compared with $470 million or $0.49 per share last year.

Excluding an after-tax gain of 30 cents per share associated with the company's sale of its pharmacy benefits management business, Walgreen posted earnings of $519 million or $0.57 per share in the latest quarter. On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.55 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Fourth quarter sales increased 6.5% to $17.97 billion from the prior-year quarter sales of $16.87 billion. Total sales in comparable stores grew 4.4% in the quarter, while front-end comparable drugstore sales increased 4.6% in the quarter. Sixteen analysts estimated revenues of $17.88 billion for the quarter.

Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson said, "We are confident that fiscal 2012 will be another great year of progress in our ongoing transformation and commitment to serving consumers and patients where they live and work."