“We also expect our share count to increase modestly to approximately 1.271 billion shares, and we are not contemplating any share repurchases in 2025.”

In context

“the industry are more appropriately reflected in rates and plan bids and our continued investments in this business mature. Now for our pharmacy and consumer wellness segment, we project script growth of approximately 3.5% and revenue of approximately $134 billion. We expect adjusted operating income to decline approximately 5%, in line with our long term guidance framework, to $5.48 billion. As we have discussed previously, 2025 is a transition year for CVS CostVantage and we believe the implementation of this model positions us to bend the trajectory of the PCW business over time. We expect interest expense to increase approximately $300 million as we annualize the expense associated with our debt offerings in May and December of 2024. We project our tax rate to be approximately 25.5%. We also expect our share count to increase modestly to approximately 1.271 billion shares, and we are not contemplating any share repurchases in 2025. Finally, we expect cash flow from operations to be approximately $6.5 billion. The operating cash flow decline versus 2024 is primarily driven by late year timing items that were pulled forward into 2024 cash flow, as well as the impact of lower risk membership on healthcare costs payable reserves and risk-adjusted revenue accruals, partially offset by improved operating performance in our healthcare benefits business. Over the 2024 and 2025 calendar years, we expect that our business will generate operating cash flows of $15.6 billion, which when combined with improving operating performance will help put us back on the path to our target leverage levels. As you think about the cadence of earnings in 2025, we expect earnings to be more weighted to the first half than the second half, lik”