UPDATE: Walgreen Posts Drop In Q2 Profit, Plans To Close 76 Stores

Walgreen Co WAG reported a drop in its second-quarter profit and announced its plans to close 76 stores. Walgreen's quarterly net income fell to $754 million, or $0.78 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $756 million, or $0.79 per share. Excluding one-time items, it earned $0.91 per share. Its sales climbed 5.1% to $19.61 billion, while same-store sales climbed 4.3%. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.93 per share on sales of $19.6 billion. Its gross profit margin declined 1.3 percentage points to 28.8% of sales. Walgreen shares closed at $64.31 yesterday.