Analyzing Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) and Alibaba Health Information Technology (OTC:ALBHF)

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) and Alibaba Health Information Technology (OTC:ALBHF) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Walgreens Boots Alliance and Alibaba Health Information Technology’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Walgreens Boots Alliance	$144.60 billion	0.10	-$3.08 billion	($7.00)	-2.29
Alibaba Health Information Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Alibaba Health Information Technology has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Walgreens Boots Alliance and Alibaba Health Information Technology, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Walgreens Boots Alliance	4	9	2	0	1.87
Alibaba Health Information Technology	0	0	0	0	N/A

Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus price target of $24.36, suggesting a potential upside of 51.95%. Given Walgreens Boots Alliance’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Walgreens Boots Alliance is more favorable than Alibaba Health Information Technology.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.6% of Walgreens Boots Alliance shares are held by institutional investors. 17.4% of Walgreens Boots Alliance shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Walgreens Boots Alliance and Alibaba Health Information Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Walgreens Boots Alliance	-4.18%	12.11%	3.23%
Alibaba Health Information Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Walgreens Boots Alliance beats Alibaba Health Information Technology on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. operates as a healthcare, pharmacy, and retail company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Retail Pharmacy, International, and U.S. Healthcare. The U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment engages in operation of the retail drugstores, health and wellness services, specialty, and home delivery pharmacy services, which offers health and wellness, beauty, personal care and consumables, and general merchandise. The International segment offers sale of prescription drugs and health and wellness, beauty, personal care, and other consumer products outside the United States; and operates pharmacy-led health and beauty retail businesses under the Boots brand stores in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Thailand, as well as the Benavides brand in Mexico and the Ahumada brand in Chile. The U.S. Healthcare segment provides VillageMD, a national provider of value-based care with primary, multi-specialty, and urgent care providers serving patients in traditional clinic settings, in patients' homes and online appointments; Shields, a specialty pharmacy integrator and accelerator for hospitals; and CareCentrix, a participant in the post-acute and home care management sectors. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.

About Alibaba Health Information Technology

Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the pharmaceutical direct sales, pharmaceutical e-commerce platform, and healthcare and digital services businesses in Mainland China and Hong Kong. It offers range of prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, nutritional supplements, medical devices, contact lenses, and various other health-related products through its online stores on Tmall.com and offline pharmacy outlets to business-to-customer and business-to-business customers; and pharmaceutical products, medical devices and healthcare products, health food, adult and family planning products, contact lenses, and medical and healthcare services through its e-commerce platform. The company also provides medical and healthcare services, including medical checkups, nucleic acid testing, medical consultation, registration, vaccination, and traditional Chinese medicine through various channels, such as Taobao, Tmall, Alipay, Dr. Deer APP, AMap, Freshippo, DingTalk, and Quark. In addition, it engages in the digital tracking business; provision of network hospital, healthcare related internet information, internet information, and healthcare related technical services; operation of internet hospitals; and asset management services. The company was formerly known as CITIC 21CN Company Limited and changed its name to Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited in September 2014. Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.