CVS Caremark Corp.'s second-quarter net income jumped 18.4 percent, as new business for its drugstore chain and an expansion of its pharmacy benefits management segment pushed revenue higher.
Its adjusted earnings topped Wall Street estimates, and CVS shares rose more than 2 percent in premarket trading.
The Woonsocket, R.I., company earned $966 million, or 75 cents per share, in the three months that ended June 30. That's up from $816 million, or 60 cents per share, a year ago.
Its adjusted earnings came to 81 cents a share. Analysts expected, on average, 79 cents per share, according to FactSet.
Revenue grew 16 percent to $30.71 billion from $26.4 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $31.02 billion.
CVS Caremark said it now expects 2012 adjusted earnings to range between $3.32 and $3.38 per share, up from its previous forecast for earnings of $3.23 to $3.33 per share. Analysts expected $3.33 per share.
CVS Caremark runs the second-largest chain of drugstores in the United States after Walgreen Co. and one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefits management businesses. It had 7,381 retail locations at the end of the quarter.
The company said its pharmacies saw a "significant benefit" in the quarter from business gained through the recently settled split between Walgreen and Express Scripts Holding Co. CVS Caremark estimates that the split added about 3.5 cents per share to its earnings.
Walgreen used to fill prescriptions for St. Louis-based Express Scripts, which runs drug plans for employers, insurers and other customers as the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager, or PBM. The companies let a contract between them expire at the end of last year, but they said last month they had agreed to resume doing business.
That new pact won't start until Sept. 15, however, and CVS Caremark says it still expects to benefit throughout this year from the split. In this year's fourth quarter, it expects to keep at least 50 percent of the business it gained since the Walgreen-Express Scripts split began.
The company has forecast a total gain of about 5 cents per share from the third and fourth quarters combined.
CVS shares rose $1.05, or 2.3 percent, to $45.95 in premarket trading.
