US pharmacy giant offers up a big warning on the US consumer

The second-largest US pharmacy chain doesn’t like what it’s seeing from the US consumer.

The company lowered its guidance in what it said was “reflecting challenging pharmacy industry trends and a worse-than-expected US consumer environment.”

Oftentimes, companies blame macro for poor execution but at other times they can offer an early sign of trouble. We have also heard warnings from housing-related companies POOL and RH recently.

Shares of Wallgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) are down 19.7% premarket.

In the conference call, the company said it saw a “sustained pullback in discretionary spending in the quarter” and it responded by lower prices. The company also said changes are imminent for 25% of its 9000 stores and that it will close a ‘significant portion’ over the next three years.

That’s a lot of layoffs and empty storefronts.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.