Shares of Walgreens Boots Aliance (NASDAQ: WBA) fell as much as 10% earlier this week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, then settled down 4% as of Friday's close after a historic dividend cut overshadowed reasonably solid quarterly results from the drugstore chain.

Indeed, Walgreens shares fell nearly 12% on Thursday alone following the release of its slightly stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter 2024 results. The company's quarterly revenue grew 10% year over year, to $36.7 billion, while its adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings simultaneously declined more than 43% to to $571 million, or $0.66 per share.

Management blamed the contracting earnings on "challenging retail market trends in the U.S.," as well as a 21 percentage-point headwind from higher taxes. Even so, both the top and bottom lines arrived above Wall Street's consensus estimates for earnings of $0.61 per share on lower revenue of $34.9 billion.

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Source Fool.com