(Bloomberg) — CVS Health Corp., the largest provider of prescription drugs in the United States, posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates as demand for medicine outweighed the drop in revenue from a decision to stop selling tobacco products.
Profit of $1.21 a share, excluding one-time items, was 1 cent more than the average of analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 13 percent to $37.1 billion, the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based company said in a statement Tuesday. Analysts had projected $36 billion on average.
Growth in prescription drug sales, driven by new health insurance available to millions of previously uninsured Americans through the Affordable Care Act, is helping the company weather the loss of tobacco revenue. CVS stopped selling cigarettes in September, making the fourth quarter the first full financial period without any tobacco-related revenue. CVS previously generated about $2 billion annually in tobacco sales.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
