CVS Health (CVS) earnings Q1 2026

CVS Health on Wednesday blew previous first-quarter earnings and income estimates and raised its 2026 steering, as its once-troubled insurance coverage enterprise confirmed enchancment.

CVS, which operates the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, sees full-year revenue coming in between $7.30 and $7.50 per share. That’s up from a earlier steering of $7 to $7.20 per share.

The firm additionally expects income of at the very least $405 billion in 2026, up from its prior outlook of at the very least $400 billion.

The majority of that $5 billion enhance is “reflective of the tailwinds we’re seeing” for insurer Aetna, CVS CFO Brian Newman stated in an interview with CNBC.

All of the health-care big’s enterprise segments, together with insurance coverage, its retail pharmacy and well being providers unit, surpassed Wall Street’s income expectations. But Aetna’s outcomes are seemingly high of thoughts for buyers, who’ve watched high medical costs batter main well being insurers for the final two years.

The outcomes indicated continued progress in CVS’s broader turnaround planwhich has concerned slicing $2 billion in prices, closing underperforming shops, shuffling management and lowering valuesure inside privately run Medicare Advantage plans.

“From an investor lens, we said let’s put out realistic, reasonable targets and then find pathways to outperform. And we did that throughout at the end of last year and the quarter,” Newman stated. “So to beat and raise, which I think is probably the fourth or fifth consecutive, it feels like we’re delivering on that.”

“So confident in the year, but still taking a cautious or prudent view,” he added, noting that medical prices are nonetheless too excessive.

Shares of CVS rose greater than 4% in premarket buying and selling on Wednesday.

Here’s what CVS reported for the primary quarter in contrast with what Wall Street was anticipating, primarily based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $2.57 adjusted vs. $2.20 anticipated
• Revenue: $100.43 billion vs. $95.09 billion anticipated

The firm posted internet earnings of $2.94 billion, or $2.30 per share, for the primary quarter. That compares with internet earnings of $1.78 billion, or $1.41 per share, for a similar interval a 12 months in the past.

Excluding sure objects, comparable to restructuring fees and capital losses, adjusted earnings have been $2.57 per share for the quarter.

CVS booked gross sales of $100.43 billion for the primary quarter, up 6.2% from the identical interval a 12 months in the past, as all three of its enterprise segments confirmed development.

CVS’s report additionally provides to an general stable first quarter for the broader medical health insurance sector, though the second quarter will show much more essential for these corporations as they get a clearer learn on medical prices.

The insurance coverage enterprise introduced in $35.97 billion in income through the quarter, up round 3% from the primary quarter of 2025. That got here in greater than the $33.28 billion that analysts have been anticipating, in line with StreetAccount.

Newman attributed the quarter’s efficiency to Aetna’s underlying power, citing organizational adjustments to processes or know-how which have enabled the corporate to “do things more efficiently.”

Aetna and different insurers have grappled with higher-than-expected medical prices over the previous 12 months as extra Medicare Advantage sufferers return to hospitals for procedures they delayed through the pandemic. Medical prices stay excessive, however Aetna and different insurers look like changing into higher outfitted to handle the development, as many lower membership and advantages for sufferers and exit unprofitable markets.

The insurance coverage section’s medical profit ratio — a measure of whole medical bills paid relative to premiums collected — decreased from the earlier 12 months to 84.6% from 87.3%. A decrease ratio usually signifies that an organization collected extra in premiums than it paid out in advantages, leading to greater profitability.

Analysts anticipated a ratio of 86.3%, in line with StreetAccount.

Newman stated medical prices usually are not bettering, however CVS has inside packages to “take cost out of the way we do work.” He famous that the corporate can higher forecast medical value traits, saying he’s completely happy “we’re not getting a lot of surprises.”

But Newman stated CVS now must give attention to utilizing the identical instruments to cut back medical prices.

In a launch, CVS additionally stated the year-over-year enchancment within the unit was as a result of lack of a so-called premium deficiency reserve, which was recorded in the identical interval in 2025. That refers to a legal responsibility that an insurer could must cowl if future premiums usually are not sufficient to pay for anticipated claims and bills.

CVS’s pharmacy and client wellness division posted $31.99 billion in gross sales for the primary quarter, comparatively flat from the year-ago interval. Analysts anticipated gross sales of $31.70 billion, StreetAccount estimates stated.

That unit dispenses prescriptions in CVS’s greater than 9,000 retail pharmacies and offers different providers, comparable to vaccinations and diagnostic testing.

The firm’s well being providers section generated $48.24 billion in income for the quarter, up 11% from the identical interval a 12 months earlier.

That unit consists of the pharmacy advantages supervisor Caremark, which negotiates drug reductions with producers on behalf of insurance coverage, creates lists of medicines, or formularies, which can be coated by insurance coverage, and reimburses pharmacies for prescriptions.