Better Buy: Rite Aid vs. Walgreens

Investing in pharmacy retailers is a relatively safe play these days. Even if states shut most businesses down in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, companies like Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) and Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA) will keep operating (at least in some fashion) as they provide consumers with essential day-to-day products and critical prescriptions.

However, that doesn't mean their stocks are equally good buys or one's as safe as the other. Let's take a closer look at both Rite Aid and Walgreens to see which pharmacy chain operator is a better investment today.

Walgreens can usually be counted on to post a profit. Unfortunately, that didn't happen when the Illinois-based pharmacy retailer released its third-quarter results on July 9. The bad news was that a lockdown in the U.K. led to Walgreens' international retail pharmacy sales declining by 31% from the prior-year period. The company also wrote down its Boots UK assets by $2 billion, which caused Walgreens to incur a net loss of $1.7 billion for Q3.

Source Fool.com