Beyond the Tech Giants: 35 Non-Tech AI Opportunities

23. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 35      

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) operates as a healthcare, pharmacy, and retail company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. The retail and pharma giant leverages AI in various aspects of business, particularly in healthcare and customer engagement. For example, the company uses AI to manage vast data sets, integrating them into a data platform hosted by Microsoft Azure to drive personalized patient care. It also applies AI for predictive analytics in clinical trials programs, helping identify patients eligible for trials and providing real-world evidence for pharmaceutical research.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) does not have many admirers on Wall Street. Bank of America analyst Allen Lutz recently lowered the price target on the stock to $7.5 from $11 and kept an Underperform rating, noting that the advisory was reducing its FY25 EPS estimate to $1.75 from $2.23, due in large part to lower US Retail Pharmacy EBIT, and reducing its FY26 EPS forecast to $1.7 from $2.47 for the same reason as well as incrementally higher interest expense.