CVS Health Corp. (NYSE:CVS) saw its shares rise in premarket trade after it set its 2018 revenue growth guidance at between 0.75% to 2.5%.
The drug store chain which will close its purchase of health insurer Aetna Inc. in the second half, said it expects benefits from a streamlining programme to be partly offset by costs linked with the implementation of its contract to provide pharmacy benefit management services to Anthem, Inc. from 2020, as well as the recent divestiture of RxCrossroads.
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"Together, these two factors reduce expected adjusted consolidated operating profit growth by approximately 125 basis points," the company said.
CVS Health is also expecting to benefit from the tax reform that was signed into law in December.
It sees its 2018 tax rate at about 27%, which is equal to a hike in cash flow of about US$1.2bn.
The company revised its fourth-quarter outlook, blaming the softer margin performance in its PBM client and retail network.
It now expects EPS for the quarter to come in at the low end of its US$1.88 to US$1.92 range.
In premarket trade, its shares were up 1.15% at US$74.04.