Walmart Expands

Actually, CEO Jeff Rein's salary $1,116,667 is not that high, plus he is both CEO and Chairman, A million bucks per year is not a lot for a CEO of a Fortune 500 firm. He has bold plans like taking Walgreen overseas and entering the New York City market to gain more exposure for the brand.

Walgreen is investing for the long haul by going after the five boroughs of New York including Manhattan. If earnings go up like they should then we should see nice pop in stock price. The bold strategy of expanding overseas will pay big dividends and done right this could be a can’t miss marketing strategy. I hope this is the beginning of a new more international company that competes on a global scale.

However, that said, any more surprises like last years profit miss and Jeff Rein's rein could be as short-lived as ice-cream on a hot day. They are adding to many items to the stores. This is a pharmacy not a grocery store. The profit picture for pharmacy side is good, but the new hypermarts are not performing as well.

We need the stock price to go up in 2008. They are talking about slowing down the building of new stores; that and current economic conditions could mean a slowdown in corporate earnings. Acquiring Happy Harry was a mistake that will cost Walgreen. They need to focus on building new and not doing a refurbish of an old property. Shareholders need to worry about next year’s recession.

Analysts are expecting the recession next year to knock off three cents from the earnings picture and this could affect the stock price.

I hope Jeff Rein's team will encourage stock price appreciation since their stock options increase in value when that happens and stock options are the bulk of their pay.