Free Covid Tests, Theft Overshadow Walgreens’ Forecast Increase

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. faces threats from widespread theft by organized gangs, free government Covid-19 tests and rising labor costs, casting doubt on its rosy outlook for the coming year.

The drug-store chain on Thursday raised its full-year adjusted earnings outlook to low-single-digit growth from flat following a fiscal first quarter that crushed Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The shares fell 1.4% at 11:19 a.m. in New York.

Covid vaccines and tests propelled Walgreens’s quarterly beat, but its forecast implies a lower profit than Wall Street expects, Raymond James analyst John Ransom wrote in a note to clients. The chain ...