Rite Aid is out of the recovery ward and appears ready to break into a sprint after booking its sixth-straight quarterly profit and announcing an acquisition that will expand its foothold in the burgeoning health care market.

Shares, which had slumped below $1 by the end of 2012, jumped 8 percent in premarket trading to $6.92 after the retailer topped Wall Street expectations for the fourth-quarter.

The Camp Hill, Pa., company earned $56.7 million, or 6 cents per share, beating analyst projections by 2 cents. Revenue of $6.6 billion also edged out expectations.

Rite Aid Corp. on Thursday announced the acquisition of RediClinic. The company plans to expand the small chain of retail health clinics based in Texas.