Rite Aid Corporation defeated at 46 Cents a share

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) and their 5,000 stores nationwide now find the company in danger of being delisted from the NYSE, you can buy a share for less than 50 Cents.

Rite Aid is the third-largest drug store chain in the U.S. and made Doug McIntyre's 247WallSt.com's Companies That Won’t Make It Through 2009 list, they are No. 5:

5) Rite Aid (RAD) trades at $.47 down from at 52-week high of $4.16. The pharmacy company has over 5,000 stores and Wall St. does not expect it to be profitable in the foreseeable future. The chain is a roll-up of the original company and Brooks and Eckerd stores which it acquired. With a debt load of over $6 billion, the firm is likely to falter. Competitors CVS Caremark (CVS) and Walgreen (WAG) would be happy to pick up the pieces.

This coming Thursday, Dec 18th we get to hear Rite Aid's third-quarter financial results.

Earlier this month Rite Aid shareholders approved reverse stock split, so until that happens along with Thursday's conference call, don't expect much movement in RAD shares.

The reverse stock split will be at a ratio of 1-for-10, 1-for-15 or 1-for-20 to be selected by the company's board.  

Don't expect much from the earnings call, for the five weeks ended November 29, 2008, Rite Aid reported same store sales were flat over the prior-year period. Front-end same store sales decreased 0.4 percent, negatively impacted by a later Thanksgiving and one less week of traditional holiday shopping than last year. Pharmacy same store sales, which included an approximate 273 basis point negative impact from new generic introductions, were up 0.2 percent.

Best of luck for shareholders, let's hope the company has something positive to say this Thursday.