Industries: health care, retail
CVS operates retail pharmacies and walk-in medical clinics, and is a pharmacy benefits manager for employers, insurance companies, employee groups, health plans and individuals throughout the U.S.
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| Book value of equity per share | $45.94 | 20.8% | 7% | 6.6% |
| BV including aggregate dividends | 26% | 10.7% | 9.6% | |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| ROE | -0.4% | 3.9% | 13.4% | 10.9% |
| ROA | -0.1% | 1.2% | 5.8% | 5.8% |
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| EPS | -$0.44 | — | — | — |
| Annual dividends | $2 | 0% | 16.2% | 21.9% |
| Share price | $74.48 |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| P/B ratio | 1.62 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 1.9 |
| P/E ratio | — | 23.8 | 20.6 | 16.8 |
A company creates wealth for its long-term shareholders in 2 main ways - through dividend payments and through the accumulation of retained earnings. This graph shows the accumulation of per-share equity of long-term shareholders (green bars), which consists of the retained earnings plus all capital invested in the company, and the cumulative dividends the company has paid over time per share of its stock (blue bars).
In the words of Warren Buffett: "We're looking for... businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt."
Return on equity is a key metric of financial performance, indicating a company's ability to generate earnings using shareholder capital. Over time, ROE is one of the major determinants of the rate at which a company creates shareholder wealth. The average ROE for large U.S. companies is 12%, and many investors use it as a threshold for attractive investments.
Companies can boost ROE by increasing leverage, which reduces the safety of the investment. Therefore, it is useful to look at the return on assets (ROA), which measures a company's earning power regardless of its capital structure. A widening gap between ROE and ROA may be a warning sign that should be thoroughly investigated.
Earnings per share is a popular metric used to value a company (using P/E ratio); growth in EPS is often used to judge company growth potential. However, many investors believe that EPS is an inferior metric to ROE, because it ignores the amount of capital the company used to generate earnings.
Free cash flow shows how much cash a company generates from operations, above and beyond what is required to maintain or expand its productive assets. This cash can be returned to investors, or spent by management on growing the company or paying back its debts.
Balance sheets of many companies contain intangible assets such as goodwill, trademarks, patents, etc. Many investors consider intangibles more difficult to value than physical assets. If intangible assets had been valued incorrectly, they must be impaired, resulting in a loss charged against shareholder equity. This chart demonstrates the potential loss to shareholder equity from such impairments.
Companies often use debt financing to increase their return on equity. However, as the amount of debt financing increases relative to the amount of equity financing, the company becomes more sensitive to down turns and other negative events. As a result, many investors use the ratio of debt to equity as a measure of a company's financial risk, and avoid companies that have this ratio above 1.
This chart shows shareholder equity as a percentage of total assets, allowing investors to judge the overall leverage. Companies with a higher proportion of equity can be viewed as safer investments. This metric is particularly important for highly leveraged institutions, such as banks, where it must be at least 4% according to government regulations.
The ratio of current assets to current liabilities is known as the current ratio. This metric is a quick measure of the company's ability to pay its short-term obligations. A current ratio below 1 is a warning sign that should be investigated, especially for companies that cannot count on adequate cash flow from operations.
This chart shows the cumulative dilution of investor ownership in a company over time. Dilution reduces an investor's participation in the future earnings. Dilution increases when a company issues new shares, and decreases when a company buys its shares back. Many investors avoid companies with large chronic dilution.
DuPont
analysis provides insight into factors affecting the Return On Equity of a company.
The DuPont equation decomposes ROE as follows:
ROE = (Net margin) * (Asset turnover) * (Asset to equity ratio)
Net margin indicates operating efficiency, Asset turnover measures
the total asset use efficiency, and the Asset to equity ratio is a measure of financial leverage.
The dividend payout ratio tells investors what percentage of earnings a company returns to shareholders, and what percentage it retains and reinvests. This ratio represents a major capital allocation decision by the company, and can be used to judge management rationality. Rational management should pay out all earnings that cannot be productively reinvested. Therefore, a low dividend payout ratio for a profitable company with a low growth potential may be a warning sign.
Many investors use the P/B ratio as a quick way of judging company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - specifically seek out companies with low P/B ratios. However, investors should be careful not to make investment decisions on this metric alone, without considering a company's earning and growth potential, since a low P/B ratio can be a sign of a bleak future for the business.
P/E ratio is a popular way of making a quick judgment of a company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - often seek solid companies with low P/E ratios as investment opportunities. However, P/E ratio represents an oversimplified approach to business valuation, and can often lead to incorrect investment decisions.
On October 12, 1996, the Company completed the spin-off of Footstar by distributing 100% of the shares of Footstar common stock held by CVS to its shareholders of record as of the close of business on October 2, 1996.
On May 29, 1997, CVS Corporation ("CVS") completed a merger with Revco D.S., Inc. ("Revco"), hereafter collectively referred to as the Company, by exchanging approximately 60.3 million shares of its common stock for all of the outstanding common stock of Revco (the "Merger"). Each outstanding share of Revco common stock was exchanged for .8842 shares of CVS common stock. In addition, outstanding Revco employee stock options were converted at the same exchange ratio into options to purchase approximately 3.3 million shares of CVS common stock.
On March 31, 1998, CVS completed a merger with Arbor Drugs, Inc. ("Arbor") pursuant to which approximately 18.9 million shares of CVS common stock were issued in exchange for all of the outstanding common stock of Arbor (the "Merger"). Each outstanding share of Arbor common stock was exchanged for 0.3182 shares of CVS common stock in the Merger. In addition, outstanding Arbor employee and director stock options were converted at the same exchange ratio into options to purchase approximately 2.6 million shares of CVS common stock.
Effective March 22, 2007, pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated as of November 1, 2006, Caremark Rx, Inc. ("Caremark") was merged with and into a newly formed subsidiary of CVS Corporation, with the CVS subsidiary continuing as the surviving entity (the "Caremark Merger"). Following the merger, the Company changed its name to CVS Caremark Corporation. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, Caremark shareholders received 1.67 shares of common stock of the Company for each share of common stock of Caremark. In addition, Caremark shareholders received a special cash dividend of $7.50 per share. The merger was accounted for using the purchase method of accounting under U.S. GAAP. Under the purchase method of accounting, CVS Corporation is considered the acquirer of Caremark for accounting purposes and the total purchase price will be allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed from Caremark based on their fair values as of March 22, 2007. Under the purchase method of accounting, the total consideration was approximately $26.9 billion and includes amounts related to Caremark common stock ($23.3 billion), Caremark stock options ($0.6 billion) and the special cash dividend ($3.2 billion), less shares held in trust ($0.3 billion). The results of the operations of Caremark have been included in the consolidated statements of operations since March 22, 2007.
On August 18, 2015, the Company acquired 100% of the outstanding common shares and voting interests of Omnicare, Inc., for $98 per share for a total of $9.6 billion and assumed long-term debt with a fair value of approximately $3.1 billion. Omnicare is a leading pharmaceutical care company that specializes in the management of long-term care pharmacy services. As a result of the acquisition of Omnicare, the Companys segments have been expanded. The Companys Pharmacy Services Segment now also includes the specialty pharmacy operations of Omnicare. The Companys Retail Pharmacy Segment has been renamed the Retail/LTC Segment and now also includes the long-term care (LTC) operations, as well as the commercialization services of Omnicare. The LTC operations include the distribution of pharmaceuticals, related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services to chronic care facilities and other care settings.
On November 28, 2018, the Company acquired Aetna Inc. for a combination of cash and CVS Health stock. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Aetna shareholders received $145.00 in cash and 0.8378 CVS Health shares for each Aetna share. The transaction valued Aetna at approximately $212 per share or approximately $70 billion. Including the assumption of Aetnas debt, the total value of the transaction was approximately $78 billion.