Hello Friends! I have a big large cap for all of you sports fans today. CVS Corporatio (CVS) is "...a drugstore chain specializing in prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, photofinishing services and film, greeting cards, beauty & cosmetics, convenience foods and seasonal merchandise." Today, CVS reported solid same-store sales results for September and raised estimates for the third quarter. This was enough to give a boost to CVS' price which currently is trading at $33.57, up $1.44 or 4.48% on the day.
According to The NYTimes on the Web, as reported by BUSINESS WIRE, on July 30, 2003, CVS reported their second quarter results. Net sales for the quarter increased 7.6% to a record $6.44 billion, up from $5.99 billion for the second quarter in 2002. Same store sales for the quarter were up 5.5% (note the increased growth reported above for September). Net earnings increased 13.3% to $199.8 million or $.49/diluted share vs $176.4 million or $.43/diluted share in 2002.
Looking at Morningstar.com, we find a steady revenue growth from $15.3 billion in 1998, $18.1 billion in 1999, $20.1 billion in 2000, $22.2 billion in 2001, $24.2 billion in 2002 and $25.0 billion in the trailing twelve months.
Net income has grown, although not quite as steadily, from $371 million in 1998 to $746 million in the trailing twelve months.
Free cash flow has been a bit erratic as well but per Morningstar was $85 million in 2000, ($33) million in 2001, $96 million in 2002, and a wonderful $276 million in the trailing twelve months.
Looking at the balance sheet on the same website, we find $566.8 million in cash and $5.1 billion in other current assets, more than enough to cover the current liabilities of $3.02 billion and long-term liabilities of $1.30 billion.
Looking at Yahoo.com, we find that this is truly a large cap stock with a market cap of $13.24 billion. The trailing p/e is reasonable at 17.27, the PEG ratio isn't too bad at 1.38 and the price/sales is a downright bargain (good for me is under 1.0) at 0.51.
Currently, there are 394.7 million shares outstanding with a float of 391.3 million shares. There are 5.14 million shares out short representing 2.685 trading days. This is down from last month's 6.23 million shares out short.
In addition to all of the above, the company DOES pay a small dividend of $.23/share with a yield of 0.72%. The last stock split was in June, 1998, which was a 2:1 split.
Now, in all fairness, I DO own some of these shares in a managed account where I do not make investment decisions, but I still like this company when we look at the numbers. The steady revenue growth, the reasonable p/e, the nice PEG ratio, and price/sales at 0.51. The recent explosion of free cash is also attractive, along with the expanding same store sales growth and optimistic comments by managers....If I had some money, you know the old song...this one would be high on my purchase list!
Thanks again for stopping by and feel free to contact me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com if you have any questions, comments, or word of encouragement!
Bob