In this articleCVSFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTA pedestrian walks by a CVS store in Greenbrae, California, on July 31, 2025.Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesCVS Health on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat estimates and reaffirmed the 2026 profit guidance that impressed investors, signaling steady progress in the health-care giant’s turnaround plan. “’24 was a tough year for the company. So ’25 righted the ship,” CVS CFO Brian Newman said in an interview. CVS, which operates one of the largest pharmacy chains in the U.S., sees full-year profit coming in between $7 to $7.20 per share. That’s in line with the $7.17 per share that analysts were expecting, according to LSEG. Newman also said the company is maintaining its 2026 revenue guidance of at least $400 billion. Analysts expect revenue of $409.77 billion, according to LSEG, though it’s unclear if those estimates account for all of the headwinds Newman cited. He said that guidance includes $20 billion in headwinds, roughly half of which is driven by the company’s move to exit the Affordable Care Act individual exchange market this year. Newman said the other half reflects the company’s retail business adjusting to lower drug prices after the “most favored nation” deals that President Donald Trump struck with more than a dozen pharma companies in recent months. CVS last week said its roughly 9,000 pharmacies are accepting discount cards from the president’s newly launched direct-to-consumer platform, TrumpRx, for eligible patients. Newman said CVS shares the Trump administration’s goal of reducing costs. He added that the lower prices set a new starting point from which Caremark, the company’s pharmacy benefit manager, can negotiate even lower costs for its clients, “so we don’t see these as kind of adversarial relationships.” CVS previously said it expects growth this year to be driven by the return to target margins at its recovering Aetna insurance business, led by privately run Medicare Advantage plans, and Caremark. Newman added that primary-care provider Oak Street Health is “improving its profitability” this year. That comes after CVS moved to close 16 underperforming Oak Street locations. For the retail pharmacy business, Newman said the company has several tailwinds, such as new technological investments and the locations and new customers CVS acquired from Rite Aid last year after it filed for bankruptcy. Investors rewarded CVS last year as CEO David Joyner, who stepped into the role in late 2024, pressed ahead with a sweeping restructuring aimed at reversing years of underperformance. The company has cut costs, reshuffled leadership and exited weaker markets, helping fuel a roughly 40% stock rise over the past year.Here’s what CVS reported for the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share: $1.09 adjusted vs. 99 cents expectedRevenue: $105.69 billion vs. $103.59 billion expectedThe company posted net income of $2.92 billion, or $2.30 per share, for the fourth quarter. That compares with net income of $1.62 billion, or $1.30 cents per share, for the same period a yea …
