In this articleCVSFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTSignage for a CVS pharmacy in Takoma Park, Maryland, US, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCVS Health on Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that blew past estimates and raised its adjusted profit outlook, as the company sees improvement in its insurance unit.Still, shares of CVS fell more than 3% in premarket trading Wednesday as the company posted a net loss during the quarter, which reflects a $5.7 billion goodwill impairment charge related to the health care services segment’s health care delivery reporting unit.The quarterly results cap David Joyner’s first full year as CEO of the company, which struggled to drive higher profits and improve its stock performance under its last top executive, Karen Lynch. Joyner is executing aggressive efforts to turn the flailing drugstore chain around – from executive reshuffling to cost cuts – and they already seem to be paying off, with shares up more than 85% for the year.The company now expects fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings of $6.55 to $6.65 per share, up from previous guidance of $6.30 to $6.40 per share. CVS has now hiked its outlook for three consecutive quarters.”[I] couldn’t be more happy about the fact that this is three quarters where we’ve had a beat and raise and obviously, looking into Q4, we feel really, really good about our ability to close out the year favorably,” Joyner said in an interview. He pointed to several factors, including recovery in Aetna, the company’s insurer. Aetna and other insurers have grappled with higher-than-expected medical costs over the last year as more Medicare Advantage patients return to hospitals for procedures they delayed during the pandemic. While medical costs remain high, Aetna and other insurers, such as UnitedHealthcare, appear to be becoming better equipped to navigate the issue moving forward.Joyner also highlighted a “really good sales season” for its pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark, and the goodwill impairment charge related to the health care delivery reporting unit.Here’s what CVS reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share: $1.60 adjusted vs. $1.37 expectedRevenue: $102.87 billion vs. $98.85 billion expectedThe company posted net loss of $3.99 billion, or $3.13 per share, for the third quarter. That compares with net income of $71 million, or 7 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. In a release, CVS said the loss reflects the goodwill impairment charge related to the health care delivery reporting unit, which has “continued to experience challenges which have impacted its ability to grow the business at the rate previously estimated.” The company made several changes to that segment’s management team and finalized strategic changes, including plans to reduce the number of primary care clinics it would open in 2026 and beyond. “We’ve effectively made the decision this quarter to both slow the clinic growth and also close some of the underperforming clinics,” Joyner said. He noted that CVS has announced that it will close 16 locations of primary care provider Oak Street Health. But Joyner said “this does not change our views of value-based care,” noting that Oak Street Health is “actually performing according to plan.” Excluding certain items, such as amortization of intangible assets, restructuring charges and capital losses, adjusted earnings were $1.60 per share for the quarter.CVS booked sales of $102.87 billion for the third quarter, up 7.8% from the same period a year ago as all three of its business segments grew. Wall Street didn’t expect CVS to reach quarterly sales of more than $100 billion until the fourth quarter, according to StreetAccount estimates. Growth across business unitsAll three of CVS’ business units beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations for the third quarter, with notable improvements in the insurance business. The insurance segment’s medical benefit ratio – a measure of total medical expenses paid …
