CVS CVS Health Corporation

By Dave Sebastian

CVS Health Corp. said its profit and sales rose for the latest quarter, booking gains from inoculations as the U.S. stepped up its rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.

The pharmacy and insurance giant on Tuesday posted net income attributable to the company of $2.22 billion for the first quarter, compared with $2 billion in the same period last year. Earnings were $1.68 a share, compared with $1.53 a share in the year-ago period.

Adjusted earnings were $2.04 a share, ahead of Wall Street estimates.

CVS, rival Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., as well as supermarket chain Kroger Co. and Walmart Inc. have been pushing to get consumers to visit their locations to receive vaccines. More than 40% of all U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, and the daily number of new Covid-19 cases has been declining. Governors across the U.S. are now broadly rolling back restrictions implemented during the pandemic.

Revenue rose 3.5% to $69.1 billion, just above the FactSet consensus of $68.36 billion.

Same-store sales, or those at retail pharmacy stores that had been operating for more than one year, rose 0.4%.

Revenue in the company's segment that fulfills medication prescriptions and sells general products rose 2.3% to $23.27 billion, driven by higher Covid-19 testing and vaccinations.

Revenue in the pharmacy-services segment, which provides pharmacy-benefit management services to employers, health plans, government employee groups and government-sponsored programs, rose 3.8%, partly driven by new business.

Revenue in the healthcare benefits segment, which offers insured and self-insured medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health products and services, rose 6.7%, driven by growth in the government services business, the company said. Medical membership as of March 31 was 23.6 million, up 214,000 members from Dec. 31, it said.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 04, 2021 07:02 ET (11:02 GMT)

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