CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) bobbed and weaved to put the best gloss on its third-quarter earnings update early on – only to see the stock flop 4.2% premarket.
Okay, the good news was that the bottom-line numbers for the last three months exceeded the Street's expectations.
However, the pharmacy group then landed some not-so-good news too: the full-year figures were being adjusted downwards. Ouch!
Ahead of the bell, the stock was off $2.91 at $66.10, wiping around $3.8 billion from the market value of CVS.
Looking at the financials, the retailer weighed in with an 11% year-on-year increase in quarterly sales, amounting to $89.76 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share stood at $2.21, beating the expected $2.13. The strong performance was primarily driven by its health services division, which generated $46.89 billion in revenue, an 8% increase compared to the same quarter last year.
However, the company has revised its full-year unadjusted earnings forecast downwards to a range of $6.37 to $6.61 per share, while maintaining its adjusted earnings guidance at $8.50 to $8.70 per share.