CVS Health beat the Street on both earnings and revenue in the third quarter, reporting $2.3 billion in profit.
By comparison, the company reported a $3.4 billion loss in the third quarter of 2022 as it paid out its part in a global settlement over the opioid crisis. Revenues were also up year over year; CVS reported $89.8 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2023 and $81.2 billion in the third quarter of 2022.
Through the first three quarters of the year, CVS has earned $6.3 billion in profit and $264 billion in revenue, according to the company's earnings release (PDF) issued Wednesday morning.
“Our colleagues helped us deliver another quarter of positive results across our business areas," CEO Karen Lynch said in the earnings release. "Despite a challenging business environment, we continue adapting to the changing needs of our consumers by connecting our care delivery capabilities in communities across the country, broadening access to care and lowering costs.”
The company's health services arm, which includes its Caremark pharmacy benefit manager, brought in $46.9 billion in revenue, according to the report. That includes 579.6 million pharmacy claims processed in the third quarter alone and 1.7 billion across the first three quarters of the year.
The company reported a generic dispensing rate of 87.5%.
CVS' health benefits business generated $26.3 billion in revenue in the third quarter and $78.9 billion through three quarters, according to the report. Total medical membership as of Sept. 30 was 25.7 million, including 18.3 million commercial members.
The company's pharmacy and wellness segment earned $28.9 billion in revenue for the quarter, according to the report. That includes 407.1 million prescriptions filled in the third quarter.
Total revenues through three quarters were $85.6 billion for the pharmacy arm, CVS said.
Despite surpassing analysts' predictions in the quarter, CVS is lowering its guidance for the year to between $6.37 and $6.61 in earnings per share.