CVS Health
CVS Health's revenue rose 7.8% to $402.1 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 1.2%, down from 2.3% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $7.8 billion, up 23.4%. It paid out $3.4 billion in dividends and buybacks, 44% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 0.7%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
What CVS Health does
CVS Health is a U.S. health care company that combines drugstores, a pharmacy benefits manager, and health insurance. At the end of 2025 it had about 9,000 retail locations and more than 1,000 walk-in and primary care clinics. Its pharmacy benefits manager, which negotiates drug prices and manages prescription coverage for employers and health plans, served approximately 87 million plan members.
It reports three main segments. Health Care Benefits is its Aetna insurance business, serving an estimated more than 37 million people with medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health plans, including Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and Medicaid plans, mostly through employers, government programs or individual purchase. Health Services covers the pharmacy benefits manager, mail-order and specialty pharmacies and primary care centers. Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness runs the retail drugstores and pharmacies.
It makes money from insurance premiums, from fees and drug sales through its pharmacy benefits business, and from sales and prescriptions filled in its stores. It notes that competitors in each of its businesses may offer services and pricing it is not willing or able to match. It left the individual public insurance exchanges in the states where Aetna operated, effective January 2026.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- Misjudging future health care costs, which would hurt the insurance business, since premiums are set in advance.
- Changes in health care law and rules, and in government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
- Tighter regulation of pharmacy benefit managers and of drug pricing.
- Being unable to win enough premium increases on its insurance plans.
- Lawsuits and government investigations and audits that could force changes to its business.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2016 to 2025, earnings per share fell 13.1% a year and net income 11.5% a year, as new shares raised the share count by 18% and diluted each share's earnings.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value CVS Health yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from CVS Health's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from CVS Health's fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $7.8B, net cash of −$54.0B at December 31, 2025 and 1,271 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to CVS Health: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 7.6% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 7% for a stable business (Health Care Services); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $92.53
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from CVS Health's earnings per share of $3.80 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 24.4×, the middle of CVS Health's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (CVS Health's own P/E today) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 8%, 7% and 6%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $92.53
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- CVS Health's P/E at the last close
- 24.4×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| BrightSpring Health ServicesBTSG | $58.88 | $1.66 | 35.5× |
| LabcorpLH | $329.90 | $12.09 | 27.3× |
| CVS HealthCVS | $92.53 | $3.80 | 24.4× |
| DaVitaDVA | $184.03 | $12.15 | 15.1× |
| CignaCI | $305.78 | $24.19 | 12.6× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 12.5 | 15.7 | 11.5 | 11.0 | 10.6 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 56.2 | 52.3 | 61.6 | 66.3 | 64.6 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | 43.7 | 36.5 | 50.2 | 55.3 | 54.0 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 2.5x | 3.0x | 2.8x | 4.2x | 5.8x |
| Debt to equity | 0.8x | 0.7x | 0.8x | 0.9x | 0.9x |
| Interest coverage | 5.3x | 3.5x | 5.2x | 2.9x | 1.5x |
| Current ratio | 0.9x | 0.9x | 0.9x | 0.8x | 0.8x |
| Quick ratio | 0.6x | 0.7x | 0.6x | 0.6x | 0.6x |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, no insider bought CVS Health shares on the open market, and 2 insiders sold $323.7 million.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2026 | Larry RobbinsDirector | Sold | 370,462 | $93.45 | $34.6 million | Form 4 |
| May 20, 2026 | Larry RobbinsDirector | Sold | 1,018,000 | $93.83 | $95.5 million | Form 4 |
| May 19, 2026 | Larry RobbinsDirector | Sold | 1,983,538 | $94.45 | $187.3 million | Form 4 |
| May 8, 2026 | Tilak MandadiEVP, Chief Exp & Tech Officer | Sold | 69,551 | $89.58 | $6.2 million | Form 4 |
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Pass | Fail | Fail |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Fail | Fail | Pass |
| Current ratio rose | Fail | Fail | Pass |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Pass | Fail |
| Gross margin rose | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| F-score | 7 of 9 | 5 of 9 | 7 of 9 |
| Accruals ratio | −2.1% | −1.8% | −3.5% |
Compare
Put CVS Health side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVS Health | FY25 | 7.8% | 1.2% | 1.9% | 2.9% | 5.8x | 7 | |
| Cigna | FY25 | 11.2% | 3.4% | — | 11.7% | 1.9x | 7 | Compare |
| Labcorp | FY25 | 7.2% | 9.9% | 8.6% | 8.2% | 2.5x | 7 | Compare |
| DaVita | FY25 | 6.5% | 15.0% | 9.6% | 17.6% | 3.5x | 6 | Compare |
| BrightSpring Health Services | FY25 | 28.2% | 2.3% | 3.1% | 5.2% | 5.3x | 7 | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 177.5 | 184.8 | 194.6 | 256.8 | 268.7 | 292.1 | 322.5 | 357.8 | 372.8 | 402.1 |
| Revenue growth | 15.8% | 4.1% | 5.3% | 32.0% | 4.7% | 8.7% | 10.4% | 10.9% | 4.2% | 7.8% |
| Gross profit | 28.9 | 28.5 | 38.1 | 98.1 | 104.7 | 116.3 | 125.6 | 140.7 | 166.5 | 180.9 |
| Research and development | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating income | 10.4 | 9.5 | 4.0 | 12.0 | 13.9 | 13.3 | 8.0 | 13.7 | 8.5 | 4.7 |
| Net income | 5.3 | 6.6 | −0.6 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 8.0 | 4.3 | 8.3 | 4.6 | 1.8 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 4.90 | 6.44 | −0.57 | 5.08 | 5.46 | 6.02 | 3.26 | 6.47 | 3.66 | 1.39 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 1,079 | 1,024 | 1,044 | 1,305 | 1,314 | 1,329 | 1,323 | 1,290 | 1,262 | 1,271 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 10.1 | 8.0 | 8.9 | 12.8 | 15.9 | 18.3 | 16.2 | 13.4 | 9.1 | 10.6 |
| Capital expenditure | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Free cash flow | 7.9 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 10.4 | 13.4 | 15.7 | 13.4 | 10.4 | 6.3 | 7.8 |
| Dividends paid | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Share buybacks | 4.5 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Acquisitions | 0.5 | 1.2 | 42.2 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 16.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Stock-based compensation | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 3.5 | 1.8 | 6.6 | 8.1 | 10.9 | 12.5 | 15.7 | 11.5 | 11.0 | 10.6 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 27.6 | 28.3 | 74.1 | 68.5 | 64.6 | 56.2 | 52.3 | 61.6 | 66.3 | 64.6 |
| Total assets | 94.5 | 95.1 | 196.5 | 222.4 | 230.7 | 233.0 | 228.3 | 249.7 | 253.2 | 253.5 |
| Total liabilities | 57.6 | 57.4 | 137.9 | 158.3 | 161.0 | 157.6 | 156.5 | 173.1 | 177.5 | 178.2 |
| Shareholders' equity | 36.8 | 37.7 | 58.2 | 63.9 | 69.4 | 75.1 | 71.5 | 76.5 | 75.6 | 75.2 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | 16.2% | 15.4% | 19.6% | 38.2% | 39.0% | 39.8% | 38.9% | 39.3% | 44.7% | 45.0% |
| Operating margin | 5.8% | 5.2% | 2.1% | 4.7% | 5.2% | 4.6% | 2.5% | 3.8% | 2.3% | 1.2% |
| Net margin | 3.0% | 3.6% | −0.3% | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2.7% | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1.2% | 0.4% |
| Free cash flow margin | 4.5% | 3.3% | 3.5% | 4.0% | 5.0% | 5.4% | 4.2% | 2.9% | 1.7% | 1.9% |
| Return on capital | 10.4% | 12.2% | 2.1% | 7.0% | 8.3% | 8.3% | 5.2% | 8.8% | 4.9% | 2.9% |
| Return on equity | 14.4% | 17.8% | −1.2% | 10.9% | 10.8% | 11.1% | 5.9% | 11.3% | 6.1% | 2.4% |
| Return on assets | 5.7% | 7.0% | −0.4% | 3.2% | 3.2% | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3.5% | 1.8% | 0.7% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 1.9x | 2.2x | 10.0x | 3.7x | 2.9x | 2.5x | 3.0x | 2.8x | 4.2x | 5.8x |