WOONSOCKET – In a conference call this morning, CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) forecast first-quarter earnings excluding certain items of 53 to 55 cents per share, or about $1.24 billion before taxes.
That would represent a 2-cent to 4-cent per share increase from the 2008 first quarter’s 51 cents per share (READ MORE), before the company acquired the Longs Drug Stores chain.
But CVS shares fell on the forecast, because it lagged the 63-cent-per-share median prediction of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. At 10:48 a.m. in New York trading, the company’s stock was trading at $26.30 per share, down $3.04 or 10.36 percent from yesterday’s close.
CVS Caremark, which completed its acquisition of the California-based Longs chain this October (READ MORE), is expected to post its official fourth-quarter and full-year 2008 results in about six weeks.
Nancy Christal, senior vice president of investment relations, started off today’s 2009 earnings-guidance conference call by saying: “We recently completed our plan for 2009 and we wanted to take this opportunity to share our 2009 outlook. … Our normal practice is to provide initial guidance for the upcoming year in our fourth-quarter call. … But that call is several weeks later this year [on Feb. 19], due to our fiscal calendar change.”
A recording of today’s conference call – featuring Thomas M. Ryan, chairman, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, and David B. Rickard, the company’s executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer – will be available for replay for 30 days on the company Web site.
“Given the uncertainty in the marketplace and the challenging economic environment, I thought it was appropriate to provide our initial guidance for ’09 as soon as we had finalized our plan,” Ryan told the telephone and online audience.
“We are certainly operating in uncertain times and difficult times,” which have led to a decline in physician visits and, consequently, prescriptions, the CEO continued. “We are forecasting that trend will continue probably for most of ’09. … But given the economic conditions, I think it’s fair to say we’re also performing very well.”
For 2008, CVS Caremark is still predicting adjusted earnings of $2.42 to $2.47 per share, or about $5.50 billion to $5.62 billion, including the Longs stores. For all of 2009, the company is predicting earnings of $2.53 to $2.61 per share – a year-over-year increase of 11 cents to 14 cents per share – or $5.68 billion to $5.87 billion before taxes.
CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) – the nation’s largest provider of prescription medications – operates the CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drug Stores; the CVS.com online pharmacy; Caremark Pharmacy Services; and the MinuteClinic retail-based health care subsidiary. Additional information, including a recording of today’s conference call, is available at CVSCaremark.com/investors.
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