CVS Earnings, Revenue Top Projections

CVS Caremark(CVS Quote) earned $953 million, or 65 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with year-earlier earnings of $815 million, or 55 cents a share.

Adjusted earnings, excluding intangible asset amortization related to acquisitions, were 70 cents a share in the fourth quarter.

Revenue in the quarter rose $24.14 billion from $21.94 billion a year earlier, CVS said in a statement Thursday.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager to report earnings of 69 cents a share on revenue of $23.29 billion.

CVS said revenues in the pharmacy services segment increased 1.5% to $11.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Adjusting the growth rate for the impact of new generics, net revenue would have grown 7.8% in the segment.

The company's retail drugstore segment saw revenue increase 18.8% in the fourth quarter to $13.8 billion, while same-store sales rose 3.6%.