Rite Aid Corp (RADCQ)

[fung_derf]

Well this screws up my Jan calls....

- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) now doesn't expect its pending acquisition of Rite Aid (RAD) to close until early 2017, while it does expect to sign deals to divest between 500 and 1000 stores by the end of this year. WBA forecasts 2017 EPS of $4.85-$5.20 a share in 2017, including gains of 5c-12c a share from Rite aid and related store sales. Wall Street expects earnings of $5.03 for the period. For the just completed 4Q, EPS tops expectations, while sales come in a little light. WBA is little changed in light pre-market trade, while RAD gains 2.2% to $6.81 retracing some of the previous session's losses. ([e-mail])

(END) Dow Jones Newswires