CVS/Caremark profit rises 24.1% to $408.9M

WOONSOCKET – CVS/Caremark Corp. said its first-quarter profit rose to $408.9 million or 43 cents per diluted share, an increase of 24.1 percent from the first quarter of 2006, on net revenue of $13.2 billion, an increase of 32.1 percent.
Because CVS Corp.’s $27.2 billion acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager Caremark Rx Inc. closed on March 22, the results include 10 days of Caremark operations.
Excluding merger-related expenses of $25.3 million or 1 cent per share and the roughly 2 cents per share impact of the 703.5 million shares issued in connection with the merger, the company said it would have earned 46 cents per diluted share – the earnings prediction of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
In retail, same-store sales increased 7.5 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Pharmacy same-store sales rose 7.8 percent while non-pharmacy sales rose 6.6 percent.