CVS Earnings Increase 4%, Despite End of Tobacco Sales

(nytimes.com) - CVS Health’s fourth-quarter earnings rose more than 4 percent, matching Wall Street expectations, even though its decision to stop tobacco sales delivered an anticipated blow to its drugstore business. The company said on Tuesday that growing demand for expensive specialty drugs helped increase revenue from its pharmacy benefits management business nearly 22 percent in the quarter, to $23.9 billion. The company, which said last fall that eliminating tobacco sales would cut earnings 7 to 8 cents a share, did not elaborate on that move’s impact on earnings. Over all, CVS Health earned $1.32 billion, or $1.14 a share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compares with $1.27 billion, or $1.05 a share, in the final quarter of 2013. Total revenue climbed 13 percent to $37.06 billion.