Rite Support (NYSE: RAD) whether its shareholders did Thursday in delivering a much better – than – expected third quarter of the 2021 crown.
The major pharmacy operator released its quarterly results this morning, showing a 12% year-over-year jump over revenue to $ 6.1 billion. More confidently, contrary to expectations, Rite Aid landed in the black on the bottom line, even as its adjusted net profit fell 26% to $ 21.6 million, or $ 0.40 per share.
Image source: Rite Support.
On average, analysts after the stock had estimated that the company would retain $ 5.8 billion in revenue, and an adjusted net loss of $ 0.05 per share.
The major cause of Rite Aid ‘s positive surprise was the cornavirus pandemic. With health concerns ahead of the minds of many consumers, pharmacy sales rose more than 6%. In comparison, front-end sales (i.e., nonpharmacy) rose just 0.3%. Meanwhile, the company’s pharmacy benefits manager Elixir saw an increase of 29% to $ 2.1 billion strongly for their quarter.
Inspired by these results, Rite Aid increased its lead slightly for the full fiscal year 2021. The company now estimates that their total revenue will be between $ 23.9 billion and $ 24.2 billion, which would be at the lower end means a year-over-year development of nearly 9% (previous guidance: $ 23.5 billion to $ 24 billion). Adjusted net income per share should be between $ 0.45 and $ 0.85, and free cash flow is estimated at between $ 50 million and $ 100 million.
With a massive rollout of coronavirus vaccines in the cards, Rite Aid has a good move going into 2021. Investors rewarded this by offering the stock up more than 17% on Thursday, benefiting small from the S&P 500 index on the day.