CVS/Caremark reports profit jump
Pharmacy services provider CVS/Caremark Corp. said today first-quarter earnings rose 24 percent on strong revenue growth.
Net income after paying preferred dividends grew to $405.4 million, or 43 cents per share, from $326.1 million, or 39 cents per share, a year ago. The results include 10 days of the operations of drug benefits manager Caremark, given the March 22, 2007, closing date of its merger with CVS, which is based in Woonsocket, R.I.
Excluding about three cents per share of merger and integration expenses as well as related share dilution, the company would have earned 46 cents per share in the latest period.
Revenue climbed 32 percent to $13.18 billion from $9.98 billion during the first quarter of 2006. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 7.5 percent, while pharmacy same-store sales climbed 7.8 percent and front-end same-store sales jumped 6.6 percent.
Analysts were seeking profit of 45 cents per share on revenue of $13.77 billion, according to a Thomson Financial poll.
(AP)
