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| PAST TOP PICK | 33.480 | David Driscoll | (A Top Pick Oct 25/07. Down 15%.) Have been slowing down the pace of new stores coming on. This is getting into consumer discretionary, which is hurting them. | 2008-09-16 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 33.560 | Jaime Carrasco | A pharmacy, but would also look at it on the retail side. Thinks they are too tied to the consumer. Profitability numbers are not going to be there going forward. | 2008-07-25 | |
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| Comment | 31.450 | David Driscoll | Sold his holdings because he is getting rid of some of the lighter yielders. In the pharmacy industry, the front end of the store is not doing as well. In 5 or 10 years after they have stopped building stores, they will be able to bump up the dividend. | 2008-07-04 | |
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| PAST TOP PICK | 35.670 | David Driscoll | (A Top Pick June 22/07. Down 22%.) Dropped because it is a US consumer stock in the US economy has gone in the dumps. Same-store sales are rising. Still a Buy. | 2008-04-23 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 34.320 | Gordon Reid | 2nd largest drugstore chain in the US. Having some problems with cost containment. They are also in a very tight pricing environment. Growing at about 10%/12% and trading at about 15X earnings so he would not be an owner of this one. | 2008-01-30 | |
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| WEAK BUY | 37.240 | John O'Connell, CFA | Had been a great performer for many years. Recently announced an earnings miss which caught the market off guard. Healthcare industry in the US is changing dramatically and is putting a lot of pressure on generics, which has been a real source of profitability for them. Also, with the increased use of digital photography, their photo shops have lost value. Buy with caution. | 2007-12-10 | |
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| Comment | 39.030 | Don Lato | Good demographic trends. Prefers Shoppers (SC-T) that has no currency risk. | 2007-11-08 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 39.030 | Brian Acker, CA | The model price is $44.60, a 12% positive differential. He is finding much more value elsewhere. | 2007-11-01 | |
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| TOP PICK | 40.180 | David Driscoll | Took in on the chin, have been building too far, too fast. Good management. Have to get cost/ inventory under control. The earnings quality is still very good. | 2007-10-25 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 40.080 | Norman Levine | Sales and earnings came in rather disappointing while expectations were very high. Took a big drop because of this. Don't be in any hurry to buy the stock. You don't know how far it is going to go down and they have to stabilize for quite some while. | 2007-10-02 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 45.350 | Brian Acker, CA | 3-4% negative differential. Lots of value elsewhere. Not mispriced enough. | 2007-09-20 | |
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| TOP PICK | 44.970 | David Driscoll | A deep value play as the stock has basically been going sideways for the past 4 or 5 years. Same-store sales have been growing. Expects to see their margins rise on their generic products. Very cheap. | 2007-06-22 | |
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| Comment | 45.140 | John O'Connell, CFA | Has always been a well regarded drugstore company. Good acquirer. Trading at around 22 X earnings. A lot of pharmacies made good money from photo processing, which is an area that is slowing down. Wal-Mart is getting very aggressively into the pharmacy business. | 2007-01-25 | |
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| HOLD | 44.030 | John Zechner | Big pull back on the stock when Wal-Mart announced their new drug plan. Feels the valuations in this sector are high. | 2006-12-12 | |
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| TOP PICK | 43.160 | David Driscoll | Reported revenues up 16% and same store sales up 9%. Still has more room to grow. Very cheap. | 2006-12-05 | |
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| BUY | 41.930 | David Driscoll | Like many of the large caps in the US, the stock has not moved a lot. They're adding almost 10/20% in new stores every year which takes to/3 years before they start hitting their top margin line. Still likes the company. | 2006-05-08 | |
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| BUY | 44.630 | Paul Harris, CFA | Has had some very good numbers of late. Has reasonable top line growth. Better and less risky than some of its competitors. Very solid company. | 2005-11-02 | |
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| WEAK BUY | 43.190 | Don Vialoux | The seasonal period for this stock is from the end of September to the end of December. Technicals are at best neutral. Persistant growth of 15% which will probably not change. Consumer staple companies are being hit by high energy costs. Vulnerable to a slow down in revenues and earnings growth. | 2005-10-03 | |
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| WATCH | 43.250 | John Zechner | Coming under a little bit of margin pressure. A little bit of slower growth then expected. Evaulation is a little bit high. | 2005-09-29 | |
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| BUY | 47.560 | Norman Levine | If you are looking at major chemicals, Dow Chemical (DOW-N) and Lyondell Chemical (LYO-N) would both be good. Lyondell is cheap, good dividend and has growth ahead of it.
| 2005-07-12 | |
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| BUY | 47.290 | David Driscoll | A wonderful stock. For the past 5 years they have been building a ton of stores, and the new stores won't hit their profitability for 2/3 years. Now it's starting to come into play. | 2005-06-28 | |
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| TOP PICK | 37.690 | Mary Farrell | Likes defensive names that produce good earnings growth. Benefit from having many locations. Expects extremely good growth. | 2004-09-10 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 34.950 | Neil Wickham | Has grown rapidly over the last several years in terms of revenues, new stores. Analysis shows that cash flow return is not there. | 2004-05-25 | |
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| TOP PICK | 34.480 | Mary Farrell | A stable grower. Double-digit growth is expected. | 2004-04-30 | |
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| TOP PICK | 33.760 | David Driscoll | Have been able to handle the competition well without a loss in margins. Have no debt. Expand new stores through cash flow. | 2004-03-11 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 35.600 | Gavin Graham | Debt free. Growing very fast. A very expensive stock. Better off with a Canadian drug chain. | 2003-11-19 | |
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| BUY | 32.740 | David Driscoll | There's been weakness on the retail in the front of the store, but pharmaceuticals, prescriptioon growth is still there. | 2003-06-17 | |
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| BUY on WEAKNESS | 28.600 | David Driscoll | Would buy at $26. | 2002-12-03 | |
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| BUY on WEAKNESS | 37.680 | David Driscoll | Would buy at $27. | 2002-06-25 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 39.470 | Michelle Calpin | Very strong with big growth, but 39 P/E is too high. Has a lot of competition, eg Wal Mart, etc. | 2002-04-22 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 39.300 | Brad Willock | Big growth story, but it could come to an end. Expensive. | 2002-04-19 | |
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| BUY | 39.070 | David Driscoll | Into major expansion of their stores. | 2002-04-03 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 32.950 | Michelle Calpin | Has a lot of competition. Drug sale margins are very thin. Very expensive stock. | 2001-12-19 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 31.480 | Gavin Graham | Expect it to drop further. 25/30 X earnings which is expensive. Will take a year or two to move up. | 2001-11-05 | |
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| STRONG BUY | 35.220 | David Driscoll | Good cash flow. In a big growth cycle so its multiples are showing high. Will adjust after expansion plans are completed. Buy mid $20's or low $30's. | 2001-10-12 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 35.200 | David Burrows | High PEG ratio. With market downturn, money has drifted here for safety, so price is too high now. | 2001-10-05 | |
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| BUY | 37.320 | Steven Wippersteg | Earnings will continue to grow 15?20%. Margins are good. | 2001-08-10 | |
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| TOP PICK | 33.440 | David Driscoll | Stable company. No debt. Expanding. | 2001-07-20 | |
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| HOLD | 31.990 | David Baskin | Increasing competition. Steady profits. | 2001-07-12 | |
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| BUY | 34.250 | David Driscoll | No debt. Good expansion. Good price. | 2001-07-05 | |
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| BUY | 39.410 | David Driscoll | Buy on any weakness. Expanding. Trading at a high P/E because they have cash and no debt. | 2001-04-11 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 40.110 | Jeff Morrison | Outlook is good for long term, but multiple too high at present. | 2001-04-10 | |
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| BUY | 40.250 | David Driscoll | Bullet proof portfolio-mid caps (35%) | 2001-03-27 | |
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| BUY on WEAKNESS | 40.250 | David Driscoll | Expanding into new areas. Aging population is a plus. Earnings up 15/16%. Maybe a little above itself now. | 2001-03-27 | |
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| BUY | 41.540 | David Driscoll | A leading pharmaceutical | 2001-03-16 | |
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| BUY | 43.640 | Michael Sprung | An exceptional chain. Good long term. | 2001-03-05 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 44.210 | Fred Sturm | Well managed company. Mail order drugs are cutting into their business. | 2001-02-27 | |
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| TOP PICK | 38.813 | David Driscoll | Expanding into SW US where a bankrupt competitor has left space. Has a lot of cash, so can expand | 2001-01-17 | |
Experts that have talked about Walgreen Co