CVS Health first-quarter profit beats on COVID-19 stockpiling

(Reuters) – CVS Health Corp on Wednesday posted first-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates, as its pharmacy benefits management business and its drugstores benefited from customers stockpiling medicines due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

Sales at CVS’s retail unit rose 77% to $22.75 billion, helped by strength in its pharmacies as well as its front-end stores that sell over the counter consumer health products.

The company said its pharmacies benefited as consumers refilled prescriptions early as they prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Excluding items, CVS earned $1.91 per share, beating estimates of $1.63 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Sales rose 8.3% to $66.76 billion, beating estimates of $64.10 billion.

The company maintained its 2020 adjusted profit forecast.

Net income rose to $2.01 billion, or $1.53 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $1.42 billion, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Trisha Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Supriya Kurane)