Walgreens Has Fallen 68%: Are They Headed For The Pharmacy Graveyard With Rite Aid?

Cough syrup might become a bit harder to find, thanks to some tough news from Walgreens. The pharmacy giant recently announced that roughly 25% of its stores are set to be axed over the next three years. So, if you’ve got a midnight cold, you might need to start mapping out alternatives now.

We’re talking about the largest pharmacy chain in the world with over 8,500 stores and more than 300,000 employees. This is just the latest effort by the struggling company to right a ship that has been a rotating door of CEOs, and stagnating profits. 

It gets worse—Walgreens shares have tanked by a staggering 68% this year alone and are now hanging on by a thread at $9.45—down 80% from their 2019 peak, hovering at its lowest point since 1997.If you were one of the brave (or unlucky) souls who threw $1,000 into Walgreens stock back then, you’re now sitting on a cool $150, congratulations! You now have about $150 left, assuming you didn’t spend it all on overpriced Altoids.  

Walgreens troubles start with their retail theft issues ever since the times of the Pandemic. The company’s been forced to shut down stores, lock up products like they’re Fort Knox, and that still hasn’t fixed the problem. Turns out, locking up products may prevent stealing, but it also turns away customers.

Another major hurdle has been falling reimbursement rates for prescription drugs.  Pharmacies typically buy their medications from a distributor and then get reimbursed, but the current model for the middle man is eating up all the profit. On top of that, their attempt to revamp their business by buying VillageMD turned out to be a huge flop. It’s like buying a new car only for it to break down on the way home. Walgreens ended up writing off a chunk of that $6 billion investment and is saying goodbye to a bunch of employees.

And if you thought Walgreens was the only one flailing around in the dark, think again. Rite Aid just closed 117 stores in Ohio after filing bankruptcy. The chain has billions of dollars in debt and has been sued in a handful of illegal prescription cases. 

CVS, another rival of Walgreens, is also struggling to stay afloat. The company’s stock has taken a 27% dive this year. Despite owning a slew of businesses including Aetna and Caremark, and even snapping up Oak Street Health for $10 billion, CVS is still sinking. Like Walgreens, they're drowning under a sea of competition from the likes of Amazon and Walmart, and let’s not forget their hefty $5 billion opioid settlement that didn’t exactly help their bottom line.

As for Walgreens, they’ve been trying to sell their Boots division (the UK arm) but have been getting the cold shoulder from potential buyers (can you blame them?). The company’s current market cap is just shy of $9 billion, down from a hefty $50 billion in 2019.

On a brighter note, Walgreens is offering a nearly 12% dividend yield—so if you’re willing to roll the dice on a company that’s trying to find its footing, at least you’ll get some cash back. 

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Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.