Walgreen Company, or Walgreen's (WAG) reported $0.41 for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 (August fiscal year). Earnings were $0.06 below our expectations and sales came in $200 million short. The difficult retail environment negatively impacted front-end (general merchandise) same-store sales, which were flat for the quarter.After experiencing robust same-store sales growth of 7.7% and 8.1% in fiscal 2006 and 2007, respectively, total sales in comparable stores increased 4.3% in fiscal 2008. Here, in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, same-store sales increased only 1.7%. As a result, management is reducing the organic store expansion target almost in half, from a rate of 6.6% to a range of 4.0% to 4.5% for 2010.Our concern stems from a change in strategy that began in 2006, when management began implementing a more aggressive strategy that includes acquisitions of existing drug stores and clinics. In addition, pharmacy ...

With good returns so far since I profiled Caraco Pharma (CPD) as a defensive growth stock at a value price, a related company in the ETF Innovators [ETFI] Global Healthcare Cost Containment Index with similar value parameters is Home Diagnostics (HDIX) – which makes affordable blood glucose monitoring systems and disposable testing supplies [web link to HDIX product page] under its own brand names (such as TRUE and Prestige) and co-branded partnerships with leading retail pharmacies such as Rite Aid (RAD), Walgreen (WAG), and CVS Caremark (CVS) as value-priced, store-branded products. The accompanying 3-year chart [click to enlarge] illustrates that HDIX has lost more than half of its market value since its IPO in late 2006, underperforming both the Healthcare ...

Perf Go Green Holdings Inc., a company dedicated to funding green initiatives that promote sustainability, is a biodegradable plastics firm. They work at developing eco-friendly, non-toxic, food contact compliant, biodegradable plastic products as a solution to eliminate plastic waste from the environment. As part of the Green Revolution, they have developed a biodegradable trash bag. It consists of recycled plastics that are biodegradable. After consumers use them and have them hauled away to trash sites, the bags completely break down within 12 to 14 months.

Perf Go Green markets and distributes a 13-gallon kitchen trash bag and a 30-gallon lawn and leaf bag. The Company seeks out mass-market retailers to market their products in the United States and Canada. Based in New York City, the company sells their trash, and lawn and leaf bags throughout different supermarkets. They also sell their products through Walgreen’s, Amazon.com, and Drugstore.com, among others.

The Company’s

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Your retirement nest egg might have lost 40% of its value since this summer and 10% the last 2 weeks. What should you do? Here's the advice I've been giving to friends who ask, as well as what I've been doing with my own portfolio.

First, let me begin by stating that I make no claim whatever to be able to predict whether stock prices will go up or down over the near term or when the market bottom might be reached. In part that humility is inspired by a large academic literature demonstrating that it's very hard to predict stock prices with formal statistical models.

The one element of predictability for which I do see some support in the academic literature is the claim that the price/dividend or price/earnings ratios do not wander too far from their long-run historical averages. The implication of that finding is that

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Health Benefit Providers Need a Check-Up The accompanying table provides statistics and the top seven companies by market cap for the ETFI Health Benefit Providers Index & short ETF proposal of 33 companies with market caps over $100M, which includes all types of pharmacy services (retail, mail order, institutional), pharmacy benefit managers, managed care companies, health insurers, and supplemental health insurance. The 25 lowest rated companies in the index have lost nearly half of their market value in the past year, underperforming the Healthcare Sector SPDR (XLV), iShares Dow Jones U.S. Healthcare Providers (IHF), and the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY). Former investor favorites in the industry such as Aetna (AET), UnitedHealth (UNH), WellPoint (WLP), and Humana (HUM) have lost ...

As I write this on Friday morning, we are continuing to await a final decision on the proposed bailout of financial firms. The final outcome will impact market direction.

I would expect a short-term relief rally if the proposal is passed and signed. Failure to reach an agreement, however, could result in stocks setting new lows for the year.

Third-quarter earnings season will not "officially" start until Oct 7, when Alcoa (AA) reports. Nonetheless, 21 companies are confirmed to report during the week of Sep 29 - Oct 3. Among these are S&P 500 members Constellation Brands (STZ), Family Dollar (FDO), Marriott International (MAR), Micron Technology (MU), Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) and Walgreen (WAG).

September employment data will be released on Friday, capping a busy week for economic data. Monday: August personal income and spending Tuesday: Conference Board September consumer confidence survey, September Chicago PMI Wednesday:

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Walgreens (WAG) on Friday evening, offered $3 billion or $75 per share, including the assumption of roughly $200 million in debt, for all the shares of Longs Drugs Stores (LDG). This is an all cash offer.

The offer counters a $71.50 bid that CVS (CVS) made for Longs Drug Stores (LDG) on August 12th of this year.

That deal faced opposition from top Longs (LDG) shareholders, including Advisory Research Inc, which owns 9.2% of Longs and Pershing Square Capital Management, who’ve stated that the CVS (CVS) bid undervalues Longs (LDG) real estate holdings and claiming that they won’t tender their shares to CVS (CVS). Longs (LDG) owns more than 490 stores in California, Hawaii, and Nevada.

Walgreens’ (WAG) bid ups the ante and could possibly lead to an escalated bidding war for Long’s Drug Stores (LDG). The CEO of Walgreen, Jeffrey Rein in a letter to Longs Drug Stores’ (LDG) board of directors, said that

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