CVS Caremark Corp., the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, said Thursday that fourth-quarter profits nearly doubled with its acquisition of Caremark.
For the period ended Dec. 29, earnings after preferred dividends jumped to $811.2 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with $413.8 million, or 49 cents per share, in the previous year.
Excluding an income tax provision, profit rose to $860.3 million, or 58 cents per share, from $442.9 million, or 52 cents per share.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected net income of 55 cents per share.
CVS Corp. acquired pharmacy-benefits manager Caremark Rx Inc. last March, creating one of the largest players in the prescription drug industry. CVS Caremark said acquisition-related costs took a penny per share off its quarterly profit.
Tom Ryan, CVS president and chief executive, said the company saw solid revenue growth and improved gross margins in both the retail and pharmacy benefits management segments faxless payday loans cheap payday loans. He said the company’s $5 billion share repurchase program should be complete by the end of the first quarter.
Sales leaped 82% to $21.94 billion from $12.07 billion a year ago. Consensus estimates for sales was $21.38 billion.
Retail pharmacy sales were $11.64 billion, while pharmacy services revenue was $11.61 billion.
Sales in stores open more than a year were up 3.4% from the previous year. Pharmacy same-store sales were somewhat hurt by the introduction of generic drugs, but rose 3.6%.
CVS operates 6,245 retail pharmacy stores and 56 specialty pharmacy stores, as well as mail order pharmacies in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
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