CVS beats on earnings, remains mother of 2025 revenue guidance

CVS (CVS) reported in the fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street’s expectations and sent its share nearly 8% in trading before the market.

The revenue for the whole year came at $ 372.8 billion, while revenue in the fourth quarter was $ 97.7 billion compared to Wall Street’s expectations of $ 96.8 billion. The segment of the health care benefits, which includes its various insurance products, was slightly down with ongoing Medicare and Medicaid, which has also affected its peers and drew the company’s revenue.

Still its retail pharmaceutical business at a time when the business model is fighting, rising, as well as health care segment.

CVS reported its medical loss conditions (MLR), which provides insight into how much the insurance arm is spending compared to the premium dollars it takes to 92.5%. It is a slight improvement from the record height, which it reported in October for earnings in the third quarter, 95.2%. Affordable Care Act mandated insurance companies spend between 80% -85% of the premium dollars, and Wall Street considers the lower end of this scale as most favorable.

In addition, even with a new administration in the White House in place, the company remains exposed to attempts to limit the role of pharmacy benefits managers who CVS can boast of being the largest.

CVS also comes from a tumultuous year that ended with a new CEO, David Joyner, who takes the helm toward the end of the year. In addition to the government insurance business winds, the CVS also fought an activist investor and weighed up in breaking the company. The company’s profits continued to trend down, 38% years over years, with a reported $ 8.5 billion for the entire year in 2024 compared to $ 13.7 billion the year before.

Shares fell 40% last year and the company detained earlier 2025 guidance. CVS announced its guidance for 2025 Wednesday and estimated the adjusted earnings per Share of between $ 5.75 and $ 6 – but it didn’t provide an annual revenue guide.

“We have continued to see growth in key areas of our business, including pharmacy and consumer wellness segment, while addressing the industry-inclusive challenges that have affected our segment of health care benefits,” Joyner said in a statement on Wednesday.

Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, which covers all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs and health policy and politics. Of course, it includes GLP-1’s. Follow Anjalee on Social Media Platforms X, LinkedIn and Bluesky @Anjkhem.

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