A Dividend Aristocrat Falls - WBA

[yogibearbull]

I only look at Dividend Aristocrats (ETF NOBL) with some curiosity. Some of the Aristocrats are known for playing games by raising div by a few cents only, or timing quarterly increases so that every calendar year seems to have annual increases. When they get into some trouble, they slash dividend without thinking much that they were dividend Aristocrats.

That applies to WBA that slashed its dividend by almost half to "strengthen long-term balance sheet and cash position".

www.cnbc.com/2024/01/04/walgreens-wba-earnings-q1-2024.html
www.nasdaq.com/stocks/investing-lists/dividend-aristocrats

[Norbert]

"... to "strengthen long-term balance sheet and cash position".

As long as it's for a good cause. Maybe next time it'll be "to help fight global warming".

[chang]

US retail companies scare me because of the shoplifting epidemic. My sister told me that she was in Shaw’s a couple of days ago and she saw someone wheel a whole cart of groceries right through the self serve checkout area and out to the parking lot. She alerted a cashier who said they couldn’t do anything about it.

That can’t happen in other countries I’ve lived in.

I own some consumer retail products stocks (Nestle) but I wouldn’t buy any actual retailers.

[Capital]

Jan 4, 2024 13:39:47 GMT Norbert said:

"... to "strengthen long-term balance sheet and cash position".

As long as it's for a good cause. Maybe next time it'll be "to help fight global warming".

Seems that Management may not be all that happy with some of the Shareholders.
See the PX14A6G filings at the LINK
For my money the local CVS has the local Walgreens beat by a Country mile.
Checkout at CVS is quick and easy. At Walgreens it is slow and feels as if you are awaiting release from prison.

[steadyeddy]

On December 11th 2023, WBA's debt rating was downgraded to Junk. In fact I think it is the only Dow 30 stock that has a junk credit rating.

[mani]

Jan 4, 2024 13:48:59 GMT chang said:

US retail companies scare me because of the shoplifting epidemic. 

While incidents are more publicized, industry numbers do not show this.
The exception appears to be NYC.
I would not base any investment decision on the perceptions of retail theft.


Here is a good summary report:

counciloncj.org/shoplifting-trends-what-you-need-to-know/
If you look at fig. 6, vehicle theft on the other hand is a major issue.

From the NRF:
nrf.com/blog/organized-retail-crime-remains-growing-threat

The title is scary, the number is not: 700k per Billion in sales (0.07%). The losses that are making WBA a loser are not there.

[bruce]

Yogi,

 Is there a  reason AT&T is still listed as an Aristocrat in the Nasdaq reference provided in the OP?

[steadyeddy]

AT&T debt rating could be declared junk sooner rather than later by one of the 3 agencies... just my 2 cents