On Wednesday, CVS Health Corp
Highlighting investors' concerns about rising healthcare costs for insurers, Bloomberg noted that the worst was feared for CVS Health, like its peers Humana Inc
CVS's recent results indicate that its insurance unit effectively handled the escalating costs, contributing to positive quarterly performance.
The pharmacy chain reported sales of $93.81 billion, up 11.9% Y/Y, beating the consensus of $90.36 billion.
Health Care Benefits segment, the company's insurance unit, reported sales of $26.73 billion, up 16.1%.
The medical benefit ratio was 88.5% in the fourth quarter, up from 85.8% a year ago.
Total Medical Membership increased by 5.2% to 25.7 million, reflecting broad-based growth in Individual Exchange, Medicare, and Commercial products.
Guidance: CVS Health revised its fiscal year 2024 adjusted EPS guidance to at least $8.30 from earlier guidance of at least $8.50 versus the consensus of $8.47, reflecting the impact of higher-than-expected Medicare Advantage utilization observed at the end of 2023.
The company forecasts fiscal year 2024 sales of at least $371.3 billion, up from at least $366.0 billion expected earlier versus consensus of $362.99 billion.
Cash flow from operations will be at least $12 billion, down from an earlier outlook of at least $12.5 billion.
The company expects sales of at least $125.1 billion for the Healthcare Benefit segment, compared to at least $119.8 billion expected earlier, and a Medical Benefits Ratio of ~87.7% versus ~87.2% (prior). Sees Total Medical Membership of ~26.9 million.
Price Action: CVS shares are up 3.17% at $76.10 on the last check Wednesday.
