Walgreens saw U.S. pharmacies sales climb 19.3 percent in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018, according to its first earnings report as a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Reuters reports.
Here are four things to know about the pharmacy giant's third quarter results:
1. Walgreens attributed the increase in pharmacy sales to higher prescription volumes at its Rite Aid stores. Rite Aid completed its planned divestiture of 1,932 stores to Walgreens March 28.
2. During a scheduled earnings call June 28, Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina commented on Amazon's acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack.
"Yes, it's a declaration of intent from Amazon," Mr. Pessina told analysts during the call, according to CNBC. "[But] the pharmacy world is much more complex than the delivery of a certain [pills or] packages."
3. At the same time, sales within Walgreens' retail segment fell 3.8 percent during the third quarter of this year. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, told Reuters. "CVS and Walgreens have become particularly reliant on the pharmacy side to drive their businesses forward."
4. Walgreens ended the quarter with total sales of $34.33 billion. The company also issued a $10 billion share buyback, upping its quarterly dividend by 10 percent to 44 cents a share.