CVS on Wednesday reported third-quarter adjusted earnings and income that topped Wall Street’s expectations, lifted partly by robust income from the corporate’s well being providers enterprise. 

CVS booked gross sales of $89.76 billion for the quarter, up almost 11% from the identical interval a yr in the past.

The firm reported web earnings of $2.27 billion, or $1.75 per share, for the third quarter. That compares with a web lack of $3.40 billion, or $2.59 per share, for a similar interval a yr in the past. Excluding sure gadgets, comparable to amortization of intangible belongings and capital losses, adjusted earnings per share had been $2.21 for the quarter.

Here’s what CVS reported for the third quarter in comparison with what Wall Street was anticipating, based mostly on a survey of analysts by LSEG, previously referred to as Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: $2.21 adjusted vs. $2.13 anticipated
• Revenue: $89.76 billion vs. $88.25 billion anticipated

CVS lowered its full-year unadjusted earnings forecast to a spread of $6.37 to $6.61, down from a previous vary of $6.53 to $6.75. However, it maintained its forecast on an adjusted foundation, guiding to full-year adjusted earnings of $8.50 to $8.70 per share. 

The outcomes come on the final day of a nationwide walkout by pharmacy workers from CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid to protest what they name harsh working situations that put each staff and sufferers in danger. CVS advised CNBC final week that the corporate is participating with workers to straight deal with any considerations that they may have. 

They additionally come one quarter after CVS launched a sweeping cost-cutting program as a part of its push to rework from a significant drugstore chain to a big health-care firm. The firm deepened that push earlier this yr with its almost $8 billion acquisition of health-care supplier Signify Health and $10.6 billion deal to purchase Oak Street Health, which operates main care clinics for seniors.

Shares of CVS had been down almost 26% for the yr by Monday’s shut, placing the corporate’s market worth at round $88 billion. 

The firm’s well being providers phase generated $46.89 billion in income for the quarter, an almost 8% enhance in contrast with the identical quarter in 2022. The division consists of CVS Caremark, which negotiates drug reductions with producers on behalf of insurance coverage, in addition to health-care providers delivered in medical clinics, by telehealth and at dwelling.

Analysts had anticipated the division to usher in $45.19 billion in gross sales, in line with estimates compiled by StreetAccount.

The division processed 579.6 million pharmacy claims in the course of the quarter, a slight lower from the year-ago interval resulting from a drop in Covid vaccinations and a Medicaid buyer contract change. 

The firm’s pharmacy and shopper wellness division booked $28.87 billion in gross sales for the quarter, up 6% from the year-ago interval. That phase dispenses prescriptions in CVS’s retail pharmacies and supplies different pharmacy providers, comparable to diagnostic testing and vaccination. 

Analysts had anticipated the division to usher in $28.81 billion in gross sales, in line with estimates compiled by StreetAccount.

CVS stated a slight enhance in prescription quantity contributed to the phase’s income progress. The division crammed 407.1 million prescriptions in the course of the quarter, fractionally up from the identical interval a yr in the past. But same-store prescription quantity jumped almost 3.5%, excluding Covid vaccines.

The firm counts 9,000 brick-and-mortar drugstores throughout the U.S.

CVS’s medical insurance phase generated $26.30 billion in the course of the quarter, an almost 17% enhance from the second quarter of 2022. That division consists of plans by CVS-owned well being insurer Aetna for the Affordable Care Act, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and dental and imaginative and prescient.

The insurance coverage phase’s medical profit ratio— a measure of whole medical bills paid relative to premiums collected — elevated to 85.7% from 83.4% a yr earlier. A decrease ratio usually signifies that the corporate collected extra in premiums than it paid out in advantages, leading to greater profitability.

Analysts had anticipated that ratio to be 84.7%, in line with StreetAccount estimates.

CVS will maintain an earnings call with buyers at 8 a.m. ET.