CLAIM #69688 · CVS Health Corp (CVS) · 2026Q2 earnings call · Aug 5, 2026 · due Dec 31, 2026
“Building on this strong performance so far this year, we are raising our full year 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance by $0.60 to a range of $7.90 to $8.10.”
David Joyner · CEO
In context
“David Joyner (Chair and Chief Executive Officer): Thank you, Larry, and good morning, everyone. I'm proud to share that this quarter, each of our operating segments grew earnings and delivered performance that exceeded our expectations. We generated adjusted operating income of $5.2 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.58. These results reflect a clear and deliberate enterprise-wide focus on building trust by executing against our commitments to consumers, colleagues and shareholders. Building on this strong performance so far this year, we are raising our full year 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance by $0.60 to a range of $7.90 to $8.10. We are also updating our full year expectation for cash flow from operations to at least $11.5 billion, a meaningful increase of $2 billion from our prior guidance. These expectations reflect the core principles of our guidance philosophy: credible targets, disciplined execution and clear opportunities for outperformance. Brian will provide more details on our updated guidance as well as some early high-level preliminary commentary for 2027 later in the call. Across CVS Health, our focus remains on helping people more easily access affordable care, navigate the health care system and engage in their health. One clear example of how we're doing this is through our work supporting patients utilizing GLP-1s for weight loss. As demand for these therapies continues to grow, consumers are increasingly focused on three things: affordability, access and convenience. CVS Health is a leader in all three. For employers looking to provide coverage for their workforce, Caremark continues to lead the industry by taking formulary actions that will increase availability of these drugs at a lower cost. However, despite these efforts, affordability challenges mean not all employers can cover GLP-1s for weight loss. As more consumers seek access to these therapies outside of traditional benefit designs, CVS Health's comprehensive direct-to-consumer platform provides a trusted, convenient and affordable pathway to care. MinuteClinic's 24/7 virtual weight management offering is the lowest cost option in the industry, connecting eligible patients with a licensed clinician for just $29. Through our manufacturer relationships and CVS Pharmacy's omnichannel fulfillment capabilities, eligible patients can access GLP-1 therapies for as little as $149 through cash pay options in the way that's most convenient to them. We're also simplifying navigation and making it easier for patients to find the most affordable option available to them. Later this year, through our new partnership with Eli Lilly, eligible Zepbound and Foundayo patients will be able to access cash pay pricing for same-day pickup directly through CVS Health's app or in our stores. This builds on our existing relationship with Novo to dispense oral and injectable Wegovy, making CVS Pharmacy a convenient, affordable destination for all FDA-approved GLP-1s. As more consumers begin these therapies, the role of our nearly 30,000 pharmacists is an important differentiator for us. They help patients manage common side effects, answer questions and ensure they stay on therapy. These trusted pharmacist relationships and our omnichannel capabilities are especially important for seniors. With the launch of Medicare Bridge last month, CVS Pharmacy is helping seniors navigate the program and access these therapies more easily. At the same time, we are creating a new source of prescription volume as affordability barriers come down. Across CVS Health, we are best positioned to improve affordability, expand access, enhance the consumer experience and capture the opportunities ahead regardless of how consumers choose to access GLP-1s. Our work with GLP-1s is one example of how we can bring our assets together around the consumer need. More broadly, that same focus on simplicity, access and engagement is driving our consumer technology strategy. Last month, we began the targeted launch of our Health100 platform, including Haio, our new AI-powered assistant. Haio is designed to simplify the consumer experience and help people engage more effectively in their care journey. Early feedback has been encouraging, and we are excited to expand access later this year. Simplifying health care for consumers also requires making the system easier for the providers who care for them. That is why becoming the partner of choice for providers is such an important priority for us. We spend a great deal of time listening to providers and understanding where they experience the most friction in the health care system. Consistently, we hear the same themes: reducing prior authorization burdens, streamlining claims and improving access to real-time patient information. Our recent national provider survey reinforced those priorities and confirms that we are making meaningful progress. Those insights are also helping reinforce the actions we're taking across our businesses to simplify interactions and improve experiences. We've recently launched a new AI-enabled claims assist manager, which will reduce our processing time by over 20% and accelerate payment for providers on hundreds of millions of claims every year. We're also expanding the Aetna clinical collaboration program that we announced last year. This program embeds our nurses directly into facilities to work alongside hospital staff during critical care transitions. It also helps create a more connected experience for both providers and members through improved coordination and communication. Together, these efforts are making us easier to work with and helping strengthen our position in the market. Those same principles, better connectivity, less friction and faster access to information are also guiding the work we're doing in our care delivery business. We've implemented technology infrastructure changes to modernize our platforms and accelerate data sharing and connectivity with providers and payer partners. We continue to expand and refine our use of AI and analytics to reduce provider administrative burden and support better, more connected care for patients. This includes appropriate use of AI to analyze over 1 billion pages of clinical records to enable more personalized and coordinated care. As we drive towards improved performance in this business, technology enhancements such as these are instrumental in positioning us for long-term success. Across these efforts, we're building capabilities that further differentiate CVS Health in the marketplace. While we position ourselves for the future, we're not losing sight of the need to deliver best-in-class performance across each of our businesses. At Aetna, we put an industry-leading team in place and the deliberate coordinated actions we've discussed over the last two years continue to improve both our results and positioning. We're strengthening our clinical programs, improving the way we operate and maintaining a disciplined approach to cost management and pricing. What you see now is the cumulative impact of these actions starting to come through clearly in our results. So far this year, we've delivered more than $2 billion of year-over-year improvement in adjusted operating income, reflecting both our commitment to restoring this business to its full potential and the consistency of execution behind it. In our Caremark business, we've been leading the transition towards greater transparency for several years, especially at the pharmacy counter where consumers can feel the impact of high-priced drugs. With recent legislation and regulatory developments, including our proposed settlement with the FTC, we expect the transition to net cost price models to accelerate while preserving the value PBMs deliver to clients, members and the entire health care system. Our teams remain intensely focused on executing this transition. At the same time, we continue to build on the strength of CVS Specialty, the leading specialty pharmacy in this country. Success in this critically important fast-growing category requires the ability to bring together clinical expertise, data and analytics and personalized engagement to support complex patients across their full therapy journey. And that's exactly what we do. Building on that foundation, our focus on technology, automation and embedding AI into our processes have made CVS Specialty the most tech-enabled specialty pharmacy in the industry. Our tools and processes are designed to identify patients earlier, initiate therapy faster and support them continuously to help improve adherence and outcomes. While others in the industry are working towards achieving the standard of 80% adherence, CVS Specialty consistently operates above 90%. At CVS Pharmacy, we continue to build momentum, grow volumes and deliver strong results. Our improving performance reflects both the impact of deliberate actions we've taken to position this business for long-term success and the discipline with which we are executing every day. Health care is local and best delivered by trusted, caring and tech-enabled colleagues that are part of the communities they serve. This is why maintaining pharmacy access across the country is so important. We, along with others, are challenging unconstitutional laws in states like Arkansas and Tennessee that will make care more expensive, less accessible and more complicated for patients. Our teams are working hard to achieve the best possible outcome as this develops. At the same time, we are strengthening our omnichannel and engagement capabilities to meet consumers where they are, creating a more seamless experience across our stores and digital platforms. This is how we help ensure that we continue to support the millions of Americans that depend on CVS Pharmacy and maintain our position as the best-run national pharmacy in the country. To summarize, we are doing what we said we would. We delivered strong results, exceeded our expectations and raised our outlook for the year. More importantly, we're continuing to make meaningful progress towards becoming America's most trusted health care company. Across each of our businesses, the deliberate actions we've taken are strengthening our position in the market and creating opportunities for distinction and long-term sustainable growth. We are seeing those efforts translate into better experiences for our consumers, providers and clients while delivering stronger performance across CVS Health. We are encouraged by the momentum we're seeing and confident in our ability to continue delivering on our commitments. With that, I'll turn it over to Brian to walk through the financial details.”
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SEC filings for CVS ↗ · Claim quote is verbatim from the 2026Q2 earnings call.