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11/01/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/01/2026 21:21
Is CVS Health Stock Worth More Than Its Competitors
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In a peer group with UnitedHealth Group, Cigna and Walmart, CVS Health (CVS)ranks second of four on revenue growth and third on operating margin. CVS shares trade at 23.6 times earnings, compared with 12.2 for Cigna, a company in the same health care services industry. So is CVS really the pricier of the two?
Why CVS Health Looks Costlier Than Cigna
CVS looks costlier because the four quarters behind its multiple include a $3.97 billion net loss in fiscal Q3 2025. The company still generated $2.52 billion of operating profit that quarter. Management said it recorded a $5.7 billion goodwill impairment in its Health Care Delivery business at the same time. Because that non-cash impairment depresses trailing GAAP net income, CVS's trailing P/E multiple is not directly comparable to peers that maintained uninterrupted quarterly profitability.
On actual business performance, CVS sits close to Cigna. Revenue at CVS grew 7.4% over its latest four fiscal quarters, compared with 7.7% for Cigna. On operating margin, CVS kept 3.4% of revenue as operating profit, compared with 3.2% for Cigna. Despite tracking similar top-line expansion and operating margins over the trailing four quarters, the equities diverged materially in market performance: CVS delivered a 15.4% total return versus 2.0% for Cigna between October 29, 2025, and October 30, 2026.
| CVS | UNH | CI | WMT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Fiscal Quarters | ended 2026-06-30 (Q3 FY2025 to Q2 FY2026) | ended 2026-06-30 (Q3 FY2025 to Q2 FY2026) | ended 2026-06-30 (Q3 FY2025 to Q2 FY2026) | ended 2026-07-31 (Q3 FY2026 to Q2 FY2027) |
| Market Value (USD billion) | 115 | 367 | 78.4 | 982 |
| P/E | 23.6 (not in the P/E rank) | 26 | 12.2 | 44.5 |
| Revenue Growth | 7.4% | 6.5% | 7.7% | 6.2% |
| Operating Margin | 3.4% | 4.8% | 3.2% | 4.4% |
| Total Return, Incl. Dividends, 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-30 | 15.4% | 17.6% | 2% | 21.6% |
Data as of 10/30/2026. Revenue growth, operating margin and the net income in the P/E are for each company's four fiscal quarters in the first row; revenue growth is against the four quarters before. A P/E marked "not in the P/E rank" belongs to a company whose net income was below zero in at least one of those four quarters.
UnitedHealth Group earns the widest operating margin in the group at 4.8%. That figure runs through June, before UnitedHealth reported its September quarter on October 13, 2026. Walmart reported an operating margin of 4.4%, but as a retailer, its margin is not a like-for-like guide. Among the three health care companies alone, CVS ranks second on operating margin, behind UnitedHealth.
CVS Health's Margins Have Widened In 2026
CVS reported an operating margin of 4.4% in fiscal Q2 2026, up from 2.4% in fiscal Q2 2025. The four-quarter margin shown in the peer group comparison still includes the end of 2025, when CVS saw its operating margin fall to 2.0% in fiscal Q4.
Health Services is CVS's largest business, generating $190 billion of revenue in fiscal 2025, managing pharmacy services and clinics like Oak Street Health. The Health Care Benefits segment operates the company's health plans, covering about 26 million medical members. A third segment, Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness, runs the CVS Pharmacy stores. Management said every operating segment grew earnings in fiscal Q2 2026, although items tied to earlier years added about $500 million to the health plans' result.
On August 5, 2026, management raised its forecast for 2026 earnings per share, as reported, to a midpoint of $6.94 from $6.34 in May. While this remains a forecast rather than a result, it covers a year without the losing quarter. At the October 30 close of $90.25, CVS shares traded at about 13 times that midpoint.
What Could Go Wrong For CVS Health Shareholders?
The risk is that the wider margins of 2026 do not last. On October 9, 2026, federal ratings showed fewer of CVS's Aetna Medicare Advantage plans at four stars or higher, and the shares fell about 2% that day. Management expects a headwind in 2027 from its 340B business, which is part of pharmacy services. Inside the Health Services unit, management also said some gains expected for the second half of 2026 arrived early in the second quarter.
CVS also carries heavy debt. This debt equals 66.1% of its market value, compared with 19.1% for the S&P 500 treated as a single company.
The share price appears to assume that CVS reaches its raised 2026 forecast, even after some second-half gains arrived early in the first-half results. Management cited that first-half performance when raising the forecast, and the stated 2027 headwind is still ahead. CVS's earnings per share against that forecast is the measure to watch in the report expected in November 2026. This will be the first report where the 2025 loss is no longer part of the four-quarter profit.
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Insight Guru Inc. published this content on November 01, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on November 02, 2026 at 03:21 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]