Rite Aid Earnings: Loss Narrows, Tops Estimates

Rite Aid Corporation’s (NYSE:RAD) second quarter loss narrowed, beating estimates. Rite Aid operates a retail drugstore chain in the United States. It operates its drugstores in 31 states across the country and in the District of Columbia.

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Rite Aid Corporation Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Loss narrowed to $41.4 million (loss of 5 cents per diluted share) from $94.8 million (loss of 11 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue: Fell 0.6% to $6.23 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Rite Aid Corporation beat the mean analyst estimate of a loss of 8 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $6.43 billion.

Quoting Management: “We are pleased with our second quarter results as we continue to make significant progress in our turnaround efforts,” said Rite Aid Chairman, President and CEO John Standley. “We have now increased Adjusted EBITDA and same store prescription count for seven consecutive quarters, thanks to chainwide efforts to execute key sales initiatives, operate more efficiently and provide a superior customer experience. While the wave of new generic medications is negatively impacting same store sales, it’s having a positive impact on pharmacy gross margin.”

Key Stats:

A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter snaps a streak of four consecutive quarters of revenue increases. The best quarter in that span was the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, which saw revenue rise 10.7%.

The company has now beaten estimates the last two quarters. In the first quarter, it topped expectations with net income of one cent versus a mean estimate of a loss of 4 cents per share.

Looking Forward: Expectations for the company’s next-quarter performance are higher than they were ninety days ago. The average estimate for the third quarter is now at a loss of 2 cents per share, up from a loss of 4 cents. The average estimate for the fiscal year is now 16 cents per share, a rise from the 22 cents predicted ninety days ago.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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