Rite Aid Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, September 20, 2012. 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.

Rite Aid Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for a loss of 8 cents per share, a narrower loss from the year-earlier quarter net loss of 12 cents. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from a loss of 9 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at a loss of 8 cents during the last month.

Last quarter, the company came in at net income of one cent per share against a mean estimate of net loss of 4 cents per share, beating estimates after missing them in the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, it missed forecasts by 5 cents.

Investing Insights: Will New Apple Products Continue to PUMP UP Shares?

A Look Back: In the first quarter, the company’s loss narrowed to a loss of $28.1 million (3 cents a share) from a loss of $63.1 million (7 cents) a year earlier, beating analyst expectations. Revenue rose 1.2% to $6.47 billion from $6.39 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between June 20, 2012 and September 14, 2012, the stock price rose 16 cents (13.7%), from $1.17 to $1.33. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 6, 2012 and March 14, 2012, when shares rose for seven straight days, increasing 23.5% (+39 cents) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between May 10, 2012 and May 17, 2012 when shares fell for six straight days, dropping 17.5% (-25 cents) over that span.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with three of four analysts surveyed giving that rating.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is looking to build on four-straight revenue increases heading into this earnings announcement. Revenue rose 1.8% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year, 1.8% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 10.7% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year before increasing again in the first quarter.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $6.21 billion in revenue this quarter, a decline of 1% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $25.42 billion for the year, a decline of 2.7% from last year’s revenue of $26.12 billion.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 1.74 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, for every dollar the company owes in the short term, it has that figure available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term.

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute — click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

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

Don’t Miss These Additional Hot Stories:

Yahoo! Delivers Another Black Eye to RIM

Will Apple Surprise With an iPhone 6 Next Spring?

Is This Behemoth Bank’s Stock a BUY or STAY AWAY?