CVS Health (CVS) Earnings Bring a Drugstore Split Plan as Aetna Leads
CVS Health said on November 4 that it plans to make its drugstores a separate company, CVS Pharmacy, in the first half of 2028, and it raised its 2026 forecast. Its Aetna insurer earned 48% more than CVS’s drugstore business in the first nine months of 2026, by adjusted operating income. A year earlier it trailed them, when Aetna booked $919 million of charges for expected losses.
CVS plans to make its drugstores a separate company, CVS Pharmacy, it said with its third quarter results. It matters to the people who use CVS’s approximately 9,000 pharmacies or are among Aetna’s 26.1 million medical members, and CVS says they will keep getting their medicine, care and benefits without interruption. The figures below show Aetna earning 48% more than the drugstores in the first nine months of 2026.
CVS Health third quarter 2026 at a glance
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| Item | Nine months 2025 | Nine months 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna | $3.6B | $6.4B | +$2.8B |
| Caremark and clinics | $5.2B | $5.3B | +$0.1B |
| Drugstores | $4.1B | $4.3B | +$0.2B |
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Every company reporting the same week, with its date and time, is in StockTitan’s Earnings Calendar for the Week of November 2, 2026.
CVS Health earnings for the third quarter of 2026
CVS made more money than a year ago, and it now expects more for 2026 than it did in August. On the standard accounting basis it earned $1.68 a share, after a loss a year ago.
CVS Health reported third quarter 2026 results on November 4 for the three months to September 30. Revenue was $108.4 billion, up 5.4% from a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings leave out items such as the cost of past acquisitions. They were $2.09 a share, against $1.60 a year earlier. That was above the $1.65 a share analysts expected, in the consensus compiled by FactSet. Before the market opened, CVS shares traded at $91.86 at 6:32 a.m. ET, against $91.41 at Tuesday’s close, according to StockTitan real-time Nasdaq data.
On the standard accounting basis, known as GAAP, CVS earned $1.68 a share, against a loss of $3.13 a share a year earlier, when it took a $5.7 billion goodwill impairment charge on its Health Care Delivery business, according to its third quarter 2025 release. The gap between the two measures is explained in StockTitan’s guide to GAAP and non-GAAP earnings.
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| Measure | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenues | $108,399 million | $102,871 million |
| Operating income (loss) | $3,566 million | ($3,207) million |
| Adjusted operating income | $4,194 million | $3,459 million |
| GAAP diluted earnings (loss) per share | $1.68 | ($3.13) |
| Adjusted EPS | $2.09 | $1.60 |
Source: CVS Health third quarter 2026 results, consolidated results table, three months ended September 30.
CVS plan to split into two companies
CVS plans to split into two public companies, one of them CVS Pharmacy with the drugstores. It expects to finish in the first half of 2028, and shareholders would own shares of both.
In its separation announcement, CVS put the plan this way: “CVS Health® (NYSE: CVS) today announced that it intends to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies”.
The pharmacy company, to be named CVS Pharmacy, would comprise “approximately 9,000 CVS pharmacies, mail pharmacy, MinuteClinic (including virtual care), and the Health100 technology services business.” Health100 is a CVS technology business that the company says will deliver “AI-native products and services.” The other company, called CVS Health in the interim, would comprise “Aetna, CVS Caremark, CVS Specialty, Oak Street Health and Signify Health.” David Joyner, CVS Health’s chairman and CEO, would be chairman and CEO of that company, and Prem Shah, now Group President, would become CEO of CVS Pharmacy. CVS reports its drugstores today inside its Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness business. That business is the smallest earner of CVS’s three, by adjusted operating income.
CVS expects to finish in the first half of 2028, once several conditions are met. Among them are the board’s final approval and a Form 10 registration statement taking effect at the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Form 10 is the filing that describes a new public company before its shares trade. CVS also needs the usual confirmation that the split is tax-free to the company and its shareholders. In its quarterly report, CVS added that the timing also depends on the new company being ready to operate on its own and on its final capital structure. When it is done, CVS said, “CVS Health shareholders will own shares in both companies.”
- Board approval The CVS Health board gives its final approval.
- Form 10 The registration statement describing the new company takes effect at the SEC.
- Tax confirmation CVS receives the usual confirmation that the split is tax-free to it and its shareholders.
CVS said the plan follows a full review of its strategy by the board. On its own, CVS said, each company would have a focused plan, its own leaders, its own balance sheet and cash flow, and a simpler structure. Each would also have more room to adopt technology and adapt to regulation. CVS Pharmacy would seek more partners, “including with payers, pharmacy benefit managers and manufacturers.” CVS furnished the announcement to the Securities and Exchange Commission in a Form 8-K at 6:34 a.m. ET.
The people affected are many. CVS had approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations on September 30, 2026, according to its third quarter release. Its Caremark business, which manages prescription drug benefits for employers and health plans, had approximately 87 million plan members. Aetna’s medical plans had 26.1 million members at the end of the quarter. On customers and members, CVS said: “Customers, patients and clients will continue to receive their medicine, care, benefits and services, uninterrupted.”
The Financial Times reported on November 3, after the stock market closed, that CVS was discussing plans to spin off its retail pharmacy business, as Bloomberg relayed that evening.
Today’s CVS took shape when it bought Aetna. In its closing announcement of November 28, 2018, CVS said the deal valued Aetna at about $70 billion, or $78 billion including Aetna’s debt. Since then CVS has run the insurer, Caremark and the drugstores as one company. Larry Merlo, then its chief executive, said the combined company would be “the front door to quality health care.” Announcing the split, Joyner said CVS Pharmacy would serve as “the front door to health and care in our country.”
The drugstore business CVS reports today is not an exact match for CVS Pharmacy. CVS Pharmacy would take mail pharmacy, but CVS reports its mail order pharmacy services in Health Services, its quarterly report for the third quarter shows. The drugstore business also fills mail and specialty prescriptions for Health Services.
- Aetna $6.4B Health Care Benefits: insurance for 26.1 million medical members. Adjusted operating income, first nine months of 2026.
- Caremark and clinics $5.3B Health Services: drug benefits for about 87 million plan members. Adjusted operating income, first nine months of 2026.
- Drugstores $4.3B Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness: about 9,000 retail pharmacies. Adjusted operating income, first nine months of 2026.
How much CVS drugstores earn compared with Aetna
Aetna earns 48% more than the drugstores. A year ago it trailed them, in a year when it booked charges for expected losses on some plans.
CVS reports three businesses. Health Care Benefits is Aetna, the insurer. Health Services holds Caremark and CVS’s clinics. Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness is the drugstore business, which also includes CVS’s infusion services and the filling of Caremark’s mail and specialty prescriptions. The comparison uses adjusted operating income, the profit measure CVS uses to judge each business. Aetna’s 2025 figure includes premium deficiency reserves, money an insurer sets aside for expected losses on some plans: CVS booked $448 million in the first quarter of 2025 and $471 million in the second, and $728 million of such reserves was still on its books at the end of September 2025.
Aetna’s adjusted operating income rose to $6.4 billion in the first nine months of 2026, from $3.6 billion a year earlier. The drugstores’ adjusted operating income rose to $4.3 billion, from $4.1 billion.
The drugstores’ share of what the three businesses earned fell from 32% to 27%.
In the third quarter alone the drugstores earned more, $1.6 billion against Aetna’s $0.9 billion. Aetna’s 2026 quarters fell from $3.0 billion in the first to $2.4 billion in the second and $0.9 billion in the third, while the share of premiums it paid out for care rose each quarter, as the chart below shows. That uneven pattern makes the nine months the fairer match.
Aetna paid out a smaller share of its premiums for members’ care. That share, its medical benefit ratio, was 91.3% in the quarter, against 92.8% a year earlier. CVS said the change was “primarily driven by improved underlying performance in the Government business.”
Other large insurers also paid out a smaller share in the quarter, each by its own measure. UnitedHealth reported a medical care ratio of 88.4%, against 89.9% a year earlier, in its third quarter 2026 results. Elevance reported a benefit expense ratio of 90.6%, 0.7 points lower, in its third quarter results.
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| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | 92.8% |
| Q4 2025 | 94.8% |
| Q1 2026 | 84.6% |
| Q2 2026 | 87.4% |
| Q3 2026 | 91.3% |
| Adjusted operating income, $ millions | Nine months 2025 | Nine months 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Health Care Benefits (Aetna) | 3,615 | 6,379 |
| Health Services (Caremark, clinics) | 5,228 | 5,328 |
| Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness (drugstores) | 4,129 | 4,307 |
| Drugstores’ share of the three | 31.8% | 26.9% |
Source: CVS Health third quarter 2025 and third quarter 2026 results, segment sections, nine months ended September 30; the share is of the three businesses’ total, before Corporate and Other costs.
CVS pharmacy prescriptions and Caremark claims
The drugstores CVS plans to separate filled more prescriptions than a year ago, and Caremark handled more drug claims.
The drugstores filled 470.0 million prescriptions in the quarter, counted as month-long supplies, against 461.4 million a year earlier. CVS gave its reasons for the change from a year earlier, saying it was “primarily driven by increased utilization and incremental volume resulting from the Company's Rite Aid prescription file acquisitions, partially offset by the absence of long-term care pharmacy prescription volume following the deconsolidation of Omnicare, LLC ("Omnicare") in September 2025.” Omnicare, CVS’s long-term care pharmacy business, has been left out of CVS’s results since September 2025.
Caremark, the drug benefit manager inside Health Services, processed 481.7 million pharmacy claims. In CVS’s words, claims “increased 1.3% on a 30-day equivalent basis for the three months ended September 30, 2026 compared to the prior year.”
| Volume, millions | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Prescriptions filled, month-long supplies (Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness) | 470.0 | 461.4 |
| Pharmacy claims processed (Health Services) | 481.7 | 475.6 |
Source: CVS Health third quarter 2026 results, segment sections, counted on a 30-day equivalent basis.
CVS 2026 earnings forecast
CVS expects more for 2026 than it did before, and the forecast leaves about $0.96 or more a share for the fourth quarter.
CVS raised its 2026 forecast for adjusted earnings to at least $8.20 a share, from $7.90 to $8.10, its third increase of the year after May and August.
CVS earned $7.24 a share of adjusted earnings in the first nine months, so the forecast leaves about $0.96 or more a share for the fourth quarter, against $1.09 in the fourth quarter of 2025. The difference between a company’s own forecast and analysts’ estimates is explained in StockTitan’s guide to guidance and consensus estimates.
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| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Feb 10, 2026 | $7.00 |
| May 6, 2026 | $7.30 |
| Aug 5, 2026 | $7.90 |
| Nov 4, 2026 | $8.20 |
CVS also raised its forecast for cash from operations, the cash its businesses bring in, to at least $15.5 billion, from at least $11.5 billion. It had already brought in $15.3 billion in the first nine months.
On the standard accounting basis, CVS now forecasts at least $6.98 a share. It said the higher forecasts reflect gains at Aetna and the drugstores, while it keeps “a cautious view for the remainder of the year in light of continued elevated cost trends and the potential for macro headwinds.”
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| 2026 forecast | November 4 | Before |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusted EPS | At least $8.20 | $7.90 to $8.10 |
| GAAP diluted EPS | At least $6.98 | $6.84 to $7.04 |
| Cash flow from operations | At least $15.5 billion | At least $11.5 billion |
Source: CVS Health third quarter 2026 results, guidance summary; nine-month cash flow from operations of $15,318 million from its cash flow statement.
CVS dividend, buybacks and debt
CVS still pays a dividend of $0.665 a share each quarter. Its long-term debt was $57.2 billion.
CVS pays a quarterly dividend of $0.665 a share. The latest was paid on November 2, according to its declaration of September 30. CVS bought back no shares in the quarter, its quarterly report shows, and about $11.5 billion remained under its board’s buyback authorizations. CVS’s quarterly figures over time are on StockTitan’s CVS financials page, and the CVS overview gathers its news and filings.
Long-term debt was $57.2 billion at the end of the quarter, against $11.7 billion of cash. Its average diluted share count was 1,291 million in the quarter, against 1,269 million a year earlier. These are the figures of today’s CVS, and the separation announcement does not say how the debt would be divided. CVS expects each company to have “a solid investment grade rating” when they separate, and to pay “an attractive dividend.”
Show the data
| Owner figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Quarterly dividend per share | $0.665 |
| Dividends paid, first nine months of 2026 | $2,578 million |
| Long-term debt, end of quarter | $57,223 million |
| Current portion of long-term debt | $3,457 million |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $11,738 million |
| Average diluted shares, quarter | 1,291 million, against 1,269 million a year earlier |
Source: CVS Health third quarter 2026 results, balance sheet, cash flow statement and EPS reconciliation; dividend from CVS’s declaration of September 30, 2026.
What to watch
- The separation’s terms, including the debt each company would carry and how many shares of each company a holder would own: CVS’s later announcements and SEC filings on the plan, including the registration statement that describes a new public company before its shares trade
- Whether Aetna’s medical benefit ratio stays at this level for the full year: CVS’s fourth quarter and full year 2026 results, early in 2027
Our numbers
These figures are our calculations from the sources linked in this article. They describe CVS’s businesses as reported today, before any separation. Aetna’s 2025 figure includes the premium deficiency reserves of $448 million and $471 million that CVS booked in the first two quarters of 2025, as its first and second quarter 2026 releases say. Of those reserves, $728 million was still held on September 30, 2025, its third quarter 2025 release shows.
- 27% of the three businesses’ adjusted operating income came from the drugstores in the first nine months of 2026, against 32% a year earlier: Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness divided by the sum of the three segments, before Corporate and Other costs.
- Aetna earned 48% more than the drugstores in the first nine months of 2026, against 12% less than them a year earlier: Health Care Benefits adjusted operating income divided by Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness’s, for each year.
- About $0.96 or more a share for the fourth quarter of 2026: the new forecast minus the $7.24 a share CVS earned in the first nine months.
Frequently asked questions
What did CVS Health report for the third quarter of 2026?
Revenue of $108.4 billion, up 5.4% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of $2.09 a share, against $1.60. CVS raised its 2026 adjusted earnings forecast to at least $8.20 a share.
Is CVS splitting into two companies?
Yes. CVS said on November 4 that it intends to separate into two public companies: CVS Pharmacy, with the drugstores, and a healthcare company with Aetna and Caremark. It expects to complete the separation in the first half of 2028.
Does CVS Health own Aetna?
Yes. CVS completed its purchase of Aetna on November 28, 2018, and reports it as its Health Care Benefits business, which earned $6,379 million of adjusted operating income in the first nine months of 2026.
What happens to my CVS stock if the company splits?
CVS said its shareholders “will own shares in both companies,” and it intends the separation to be tax-free to them for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The announcement does not yet say how many shares of each company a holder would own; CVS said it will give more information as the separation progresses.
Who will lead the two CVS companies?
Prem Shah, now Group President of CVS Health, would become CEO of CVS Pharmacy. David Joyner, CVS Health’s chairman and CEO, would be chairman and CEO of the healthcare company that keeps Aetna and Caremark. CVS said other leaders and board members will be named later.
Does CVS pay a dividend?
Yes. CVS pays $0.665 a share each quarter; the latest was paid on November 2, 2026, to holders of record on October 22. After the separation, CVS expects each company to pay “an attractive dividend”; its announcement gives no amounts.
Sources
- CVS Health overview on StockTitan
- CVS Health financials on StockTitan
- CVS Health third quarter 2026 results, November 4, 2026
- CVS Health second quarter 2026 results, August 5, 2026
- CVS Health first quarter 2026 results, May 6, 2026
- CVS Health fourth quarter and full year 2025 results, February 10, 2026
- CVS Health third quarter 2025 results, October 29, 2025
- CVS Health quarterly dividend, September 30, 2026
- CVS Health third quarter 2026 earnings call notice, October 5, 2026
- CVS Health completes acquisition of Aetna, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, November 28, 2018
- CVS Health announces intent to create two distinct leaders in healthcare, November 4, 2026
- CVS Health Form 8-K, item 2.02, third quarter 2026 results, November 4, 2026
- CVS Health Form 8-K, item 7.01, separation announcement, November 4, 2026
- CVS Health Form 10-Q for the third quarter of 2026, November 4, 2026
- UnitedHealth Group third quarter 2026 results
- Elevance Health third quarter 2026 results
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.