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By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – CVS Health stock (NYSE:CVS) rose 3% Wednesday as the pharmacy chain lifted its profit forecast for annual sales and profit after demand for Covid vaccines and tests boosted its third-quarter numbers.
The company said full-year total revenue is now seen at $288.4 billion at the midpoint, up from $282.95 billion at center of the previous range it gave on August 4 at the time of its second-quarter results.
Adjusted profit per share is now expected to be $7.95, 20 cents higher than the previous forecast.
Approval of booster shots for some age groups and high-risk people and a resurgent virus that boosted demand for tests drove the company’s revenue 10% higher, to $73.79 billion.
Higher number of prescriptions also helped the revenue as people attended to health issues they were forced to put off in the wake of the pandemic.
CVS said it administered more than 8 million Covid tests and over 11 million Covid-19 vaccines in the third quarter.
The company had in August lowered its expectations for the number of Covid-vaccine doses it would administer at its clinics in 2021 to a range of 32 million to 36 million, from a broad range of 29 million to 44 million doses it estimated earlier.
Revenue at its pharmacy benefit management unit rose over 9% to $39.05 billion.
Sales in its health insurance unit rose 9.5% to $20.48 billion, while medical benefit ratio, the percentage of premiums paid for medical services, were higher due to Covid-related costs.
Adjusted profit per share was higher by around 19% at $1.97 and beat estimates.