CVS reports second quarter results

CVS Corporation today announced record sales and earnings for the quarter ended July 2, according to a Business Wire release. Net earnings for the quarter increased 17.6% to $275.9 million or $0.33 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $234.5 million or $0.28 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2004.

“The second quarter was another outstanding quarter for our company. Our performance reflected strong sales growth and share gains, both in the front store and pharmacy businesses. We also continued to benefit from better-than-expected conversion to generic drugs,” stated Tom Ryan, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of CVS.

CVS previously reported that net sales for the second quarter increased 31.4% to $9.1 billion, up from $6.9 billion during the second quarter of 2004. Same store sales (sales from stores open more than one year) for the quarter rose 5.6%, while pharmacy same store sales rose 7.4% and front-end same store sales increased 1.7%. Same store sales do not include the acquired Eckerd drugstores, which will be included in the August same store sales to be reported in early September 2005.

The Company estimates the Easter shift had a negative impact of approximately 130 basis points on front-end same store sales and 80 basis points on total same store sales, for the thirteen-week period. Total pharmacy sales represented 70.6% of total company sales for the quarter. Third party prescription sales were 93.9% of pharmacy sales for the quarter.

For the second quarter, CVS opened 52 new stores, closed 22 and relocated 30 others. As of July 2, 2005, CVS operated 5,439 retail and specialty pharmacy stores in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

The company held a conference call this morning that will be will be archived and available at http://investor.cvs.com for a month.