CVS CVS Health
$92.28
▼ 0.3%Updated Oct 16, 2:25 PM ET
Report Card
CVS at a glance — five pillars scored 0–100 from real filed financials.
How the 0–100 rating is calculatedOverall: Weak · 36/100. A wider, greener shape means more pillars look healthy. Dividends scores 0 when a company pays none — that is a choice, not a flaw.
Price — Past Year
▲ Up 47.1% in the year to Jul 6, 2026
Key Metrics
Market Cap
$133.62B
P/E
39.86x
Forward P/E (est.)
56.94x
ROE
3.9%
Revenue Growth
7.6%
EPS Growth
-46.0%
Profit Margin
0.7%
FCF Yield
9.9%
Debt / Equity
0.86x
ROIC
2.0%
Interest Coverage
1.75x
Current Ratio
0.87x
Dividend Yield
2.6%
Implied Growth (rev. DCF)
3.0%
Rating Score
36/100
Business Overview
CVS Health (CVS) is a large-cap company in the Health Care Services industry, part of the Health Care sector of the S&P 500, with a market value around $133.62B.
In its latest reported year it generated about $402.07B in revenue and $1.77B in net profit.
Our model rates CVS Weak (36/100) on growth, profitability, financial health, and valuation. The summary below is built from its filed financials and current ratios and refreshes automatically.
Economic Moat
Evidence of durable competitive advantage in the filed financials (10 years of history).
Profit margins and economic moats, explainedSome durable-advantage evidence, but not across the board — dig into which ingredient is weak and whether it's cyclical or structural.
2.4% average over the last 3 years
±1.5 pts around 3.7% across 10 years
grew in 9 of the last 9 year-over-year periods
positive in 10 of 10 years
2.0% latest fiscal year
A moat can't be proven by numbers alone — this scores the evidence a durable advantage leaves behind (pricing power, consistency, returns on capital), computed the same way for every stock. Pair it with the business overview before concluding anything.
Technical Analysis (Educational)
Technical analysis reads price and volume to judge momentum and timing. It complements the fundamentals above — it does not replace them. Here is what CVS's chart says today, with each tool explained.
Trend — moving averages. A moving average is the average closing price over a window, which smooths out daily noise. CVS trades near $92.28, around its 50-day average ($93.41) and 200-day average ($81.57). Price tangled in its moving averages means there is no clear trend — the stock is ranging.
Momentum — RSI. The Relative Strength Index runs 0–100 and measures how strong recent gains are versus losses. Above 70 is "overbought", below 30 "oversold". At 65 it is in neutral territory — neither stretched nor washed out.
MACD. MACD compares two moving averages to flag shifts in momentum. Its histogram is currently positive — short-term momentum is improving.
Volatility — ATR. Average True Range is the typical daily move. CVS's is $2.39 (~2.6% of price), so swings of about that size each day are normal — handy for setting a stop that isn't too tight.
Support & resistance. In the month to Jul 6, 2026, CVS found buyers near $93.00 (support) and sellers near $106.15 (resistance); its 52-week range then was $58.50–$106.15. A decisive break beyond either edge often marks the next move.
Volume. The latest session traded 0.6× the 20-day average — lighter than usual, so the move carries less conviction. Rising volume on up-days suggests real buying; on down-days, real selling.
Educational information to help you read a chart — not a recommendation or a forecast. The indicators were last computed on Jul 6, 2026; the price is current.
Revenue Growth
4Y CAGR
8.3%
Revenue moved from $177.55B in 2016 to $402.07B in 2025, a 9.5% compound annual growth rate. The most recent year grew a steady 7.6% year over year. Slower, mature growth is common for established businesses.
Profitability
Gross Margin
13.9%
Operating Margin
1.2%
Net Margin
0.4%
ROE
3.9%
CVS Health keeps about 0.7% of each sales dollar as net profit, with a 13.9% gross margin and 1.2% operating margin. Return on equity is 3.9% and return on invested capital about 2.0%. Thin margins leave less cushion if costs rise.
Debt Analysis
Total Debt
$69.05B
Net Debt
$57.73B
Net Debt / EBITDA
12.39x
Debt / Equity
0.86x
Leverage: debt-to-equity is 0.9x, and operating profit covers interest about 1.8x, with a current ratio of 0.9x. That is a moderate, manageable debt load for most businesses. It carries roughly $69.05B of total debt against $11.33B of cash.
Cash Flow Analysis
Operating CF
$10.64B
Free Cash Flow
$7.81B
FCF Margin
1.9%
In the latest year CVS Health produced about $10.64B of operating cash flow and $7.81B of free cash flow after capital spending. That is a free-cash-flow yield of about 9.9% on today's price. Strong cash generation funds dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment.
Dividend Safety
Can the payout survive a bad year? Scored from filed cash flow, earnings coverage, and the raise/cut record.
What to look for in a dividend stockThe payout is comfortably covered by cash the business actually generates, with a raise habit behind it.
Dividend yield
2.6%
Per share (latest FY)
$2.66
Total paid (latest FY)
$3.40B
History on record
10 years
dividend uses 44% of free cash flow
192% of net income paid out
total dividends increased 7 years in a row
no cuts in the last 10 years on record
Coverage uses the latest fiscal year as filed with the SEC; the streak counts total dollars paid (per-share figures can carry split artifacts). Educational information, not income advice.
Valuation Analysis
P/E
39.86x
P/S
0.32x
P/B
1.23x
EV / EBITDA
—
CVS trades at 39.9x trailing earnings (about 56.9x on estimated forward earnings), 0.3x sales, and 1.2x book value. Reverse-engineering today's price implies the market expects roughly 3.0% long-term free-cash-flow growth. That is a premium multiple that needs growth to justify it.
DCF Fair Value (Educational)
A two-stage discounted cash flow on real SEC-filed free cash flow — the intrinsic-value anchor professional analysts triangulate from.
How this DCF estimate is calculatedDCF fair value / share
$128.63
Current price
$92.28
Starting FCF (latest 10-K)
$7.81B
Growth, years 1–5
7.6%
Fade to terminal, years 6–10
2.5%
Discount rate
9.0%
Cash flows grow at the stage-1 rate (trailing revenue growth, capped at 20%) for five years, fade to 2.5% by year 10, and continue at that rate forever (Gordon terminal value), all discounted at 9.0%. Small changes in assumptions move the result a lot — treat this as one reference point, not a target price. Educational only, not investment advice.
Metrics vs. Sector Range
Where CVS sits versus the Health Care companies we cover.
Bands show the middle half (25th–75th percentile) of the 83 Health Care companies in our coverage that have fundamentals data — the peer-relative anchor professional comps analysis uses. Context only — not investment advice.
Sector Peer Comparison
How CVS stacks up against its Health Care peers — valuation, profitability, and growth versus the sector median.
Among the 83 rated Health Care companies we cover, CVS ranks #67 by our overall rating. It trades at a premium versus the sector on earnings (39.9x P/E vs. 26.1x median) with a lower return on equity (3.9% vs. 14.1%) and slower revenue growth (7.6% vs. 7.6%).
P/E vs sector
39.9x
median 26.1x
ROE vs sector
3.9%
median 14.1%
Growth vs sector
7.6%
median 7.6%
Sector rank
#67
of 83 rated
Valuation vs. quality map
The sweet spot is upper-left: more profitable (higher ROE) for a lower P/E. Dashed lines mark the sector median.
Peers are the closest Health Care companies by sub-industry and size, preferring ones with full data. Sector medians and rank use the 83 rated companies among the 324 Health Care stocks we cover. Educational, not a recommendation.
5-Year Projection Model
Project revenue → earnings → price. Edit the assumptions to build your own case.
What drives this projection, and its limits2030 scenario price range (Base Case)
$293.77 – $489.61
vs. $92.28 today · implied CAGR 26% – 40%
| Metric | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $434.23B | $468.97B | $506.49B | $547.01B | $590.77B |
| Net income | $13.03B | $14.07B | $15.19B | $16.41B | $17.72B |
| EPS | $9.00 | $9.72 | $10.49 | $11.33 | $12.24 |
| Share price (low) | $215.93 | $233.20 | $251.86 | $272.01 | $293.77 |
| Share price (high) | $359.88 | $388.67 | $419.76 | $453.34 | $489.61 |
| CAGR (low–high) | 134% / 290% | 59% / 105% | 40% / 66% | 31% / 49% | 26% / 40% |
Educational scenario model, not a forecast or investment advice. It starts from the latest annual revenue in SEC filings. By default, growth is trailing revenue growth (held between 3% and 45% a year), the net margin is the latest one (held between 3% and 50%, so a loss-making company is modeled with a small profit), and the Base case P/E runs from 60% to 100% of today's. Carrying recent growth forward five years can miss badly in either direction. Outputs are only as good as the assumptions.
Bull Case
The case for CVS:
- Healthy free-cash-flow yield (~9.9%) funds buybacks and dividends.
- Pays a 2.6% dividend on top of any price gains.
Bear Case
The case against CVS:
- Thin net margins (0.7%) leave little room for error.
- Interest coverage is thin (1.8x), so debt costs bite.
- Our model's overall read is Weak (36/100).
Key Risks
Valuation risk — at 39.9x earnings, disappointing results could compress the multiple.
Margin risk — thin profitability (0.7%) is vulnerable to cost or pricing pressure.
Market risk — sector rotation, the economic cycle, and broad sentiment move the stock regardless of fundamentals.
Investment Thesis
On balance, the fundamentals screen weakly: CVS Health is a large-cap health care business growing at a mature pace, with modest profitability, and a heavier debt load to watch. It trades at 39.9x earnings, which our model scores Weak (36/100). Weigh this against your own goals and time horizon — this is educational information, not a recommendation.
Analyst Ratings
What 33 Wall Street analysts covering CVS recommend (September 2026). Consensus is a useful sanity check — not a substitute for your own homework.
Analysts have turned more positive over the last three months (+3 pts of buy ratings).
Latest SEC Filings
CVS's most recent filings, straight from SEC EDGAR. Annual and quarterly reports are the deep dives; 8-Ks flag material events the moment they happen. How to read a 10-K
In the Idea Lab
CVS — frequently asked questions
Is CVS a good stock to buy?
We don't give buy or sell advice. Our model rates CVS Health Weak (36/100) based on its growth, profitability, financial health, and valuation — use that as a research starting point and make your own decision.
What is CVS's rating on The Stocks School?
CVS Health currently scores 36/100 (Weak) on our transparent model, which weighs real fundamentals: growth, margins, returns on capital, balance-sheet strength, and valuation.
How our ratings work →Where does CVS's data come from?
Live price data plus real fundamentals and 5-year financials pulled directly from CVS Health's SEC filings — refreshed automatically, not hand-entered.
How is the 5-year projection for CVS calculated?
It's a scenario model. It starts from the latest annual revenue and net margin in SEC filings, grows revenue at an assumed rate (trailing revenue growth by default), and applies a P/E range built around today's multiple to show the resulting share-price range. When a stock has no growth or P/E data, the starting values are placeholders. It's a tool for thinking, not a prediction.
Is this CVS analysis financial advice?
No. Everything on this page is educational research, not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell CVS. Always do your own research and consider a licensed professional.
Data notice. Fundamentals and financial statements are sourced from company filings (SEC EDGAR) and market-data providers; prices and market caps refresh on trading days and may be delayed. Ratings, projections, technical signals, and written summaries are model- or rule-generated for education and may simplify or lag the latest filings.
Not advice. Nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell any security. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial professional before investing.