Walgreens' stock jumps after earnings beat, dividend cut to boost cash position

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA, -4.05% rallied 3.1% in premarket trading Thursday, after the drugstore chain and healthcare services company beat fiscal first-quarter earnings expectations, but said it was nearly halving its dividend to bolster its cash position. Net losses for the quarter to Nov. 30 narrowed to $67 million, or 8 cents a share, from $3.72 billion, or $4.31 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share fell to 66 cents from $1.16, bu ...