Walgreen Co, the biggest U.S. drugstore chain, posted a quarterly profit that missed analysts’ view, sending shares down 2.1 percent in pre-market trading. Net income fell to $463 million, or 47 cents a share, in Walgreen’s third quarter ended May 31, from $522 million, or 53 cents a share, a year earlier.
The quarter included charges of 4 cents a share from the elimination of a tax benefit related to Medicare, 2 cents for the Duane Reade acquisition and 1 cent for restructuring.
Sales rose 6.1 percent to $17.2 billion.
Analysts, on average, expected Walgreen to earn 57 cents a share before one-time items on $17.14 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company recently ended a high-stakes standoff with CVS Caremark Corp over reimbursements for drug prescriptions.
