Jefferies Reiterates Buy and PT of $50 on Walgreen

Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating on Walgreen WAG. At the same time, Jefferies left its price target on the company's stock unchanged at $50 after the company's reported better than expected quarterly earnings. In a research report published today, Jefferies states, "Walgreens reported 3Q11 EPS of $0.65, better than our expected $0.63 and the Street's $0.62, due somewhat to a lower tax rate as EBIT was roughly in line with our expectations. The company's strong quarter of comp sales was slightly offset by some SG&A deleveraging in part due to the tag ends of the Duane Reade expenses." On Tuesday, Walgreen lost 4.21% of its value to end the day at $43.28.