Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) did its shareholders right on Thursday by delivering a far-better-than-expected third quarter of fiscal 2021. The big pharmacy operator published the results of the quarter this morning, and they revealed a 12% year-over-year jump in revenue to $6.1 billion. More encouragingly, against expectations, Rite Aid landed in the black on the bottom line, even as its adjusted net profit fell by 26% to $21.6 million, or $0.40 per share. Image source: Rite Aid. On average, analysts following the stock had been estimating the company would book $5.8 billion in revenue, and an adjusted net loss of $0.05 per share. A big reason for Rite Aid's positive surprise was the cornavirus pandemic. With worries about health foremost on many customers' minds, pharmacy sales rose by over 6%. By comparison, front-end (i.e., nonpharmacy) sales crept up only by 0.3%. Meanwhile, the company's pharmacy benefits manager Elixir saw its take increase by a very robust 29% to $2.1 billion for the quarter. Buoyed by these results, Rite Aid slightly increased its guidance for the full 2021 fiscal year. The company now believes its total revenue will land between $23.9 billion and $24.2 billion, which at the low end would mean a year-over-year improvement of almost 9% (previous guidance: $23.5 billion to $24 billion). Per share adjusted net income should be $0.45 to $0.85, and free cash flow is estimated at $50 million to $100 million. With a mass rollout of coronavirus vaccines in the cards, Rite Aid has good momentum going into 2021. Investors rewarded this by bidding the stock up by over 17% on Thursday, trouncing the modest gain of the S&P 500 index on the day. 10 stocks we like better than Rite AidWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Rite Aid wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source