UPDATE: Walgreen FQ4 Profit Surges 86%

Walgreen Co

reported an 86% rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Walgreen's quarterly profit surged to $657 million, or $0.69 per share, from $353 million, or $0.39 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding special items, its earnings climbed to $0.73 from $0.63 per share. Its revenue gained 5.1% to $17.94 billion, while total same-store sales rose 4.6%. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $17.95 billion. Walgreen's gross margin rose to 28.9% from 28.3%. Walgreen shares fell 0.56% to $53.50 in pre-market trading.