CVS jumps after earnings beat

Reuters

CVS Health President and CEO Larry J. Merlo

CVS on Wednesday reported strong first-quarter earnings and revenue and raised its guidance for the rest of the year, sending shares up 4% ahead of the opening bell.

The integrated pharmacy health care provider earned an adjusted $1.62 a share on revenue of $61.6 billion, easily beating the $1.51 and $60.24 billion that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting. Same-store sales jumped 3.8% versus a year ago, outpacing the 2.6% gain that was anticipated.

"We generated strong first quarter results, providing positive momentum to start the year," CVS President and CEO Larry Merlo said in the earnings release.

"Following the close of our Aetna acquisition in late November, our first full quarter of combined operations was a success in many ways. In the quarter we continued to advance our integration efforts while beginning to launch new innovations such as our HealthHUB® concept stores. With our differentiated collection of health care assets we are uniquely positioned to lead the transformation of the U.S. health care system."

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