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November 1, 2007

CVS Caremark 3rd-quarter profit more than doubles

WOONSOCKET -- CVS Caremark Corp., the nation's largest pharmacy chain, said today its third-quarter profit more than doubled due to same-store sales gains and the use of more generic drugs.

For the quarter ended Sept. 29, net income after preferred dividends jumped to $686.1 million, or 45 cents per share, from $280.7 million, or 33 cents per share in the prior-year quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 44 cents per share for the quarter.

CVS said costs associated with its acquisition of Caremark in March hurt earnings by 1 cent per share in the quarter.

The company said its gross margins significantly improved from using generic drugs and implementing "margin-enhancing strategies" in the front of its stores.

Revenue rose 83 percent to $20.50 billion from $11.21 billion in the third quarter of 2006. Analysts predicted revenue of $20.56 million.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, grew 4.3 percent in the company's pharmacy division and 6.5 percent in the front-end segment. Same-store sales is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing locations rather than newly-opened ones.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry  at 8:10 AM | Permalink

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Tom | November 1, 2007 12:37 PM link

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