CVS Health downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink

Leerink downgraded CVS Health (CVS) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $60, down from $87. While admitting the rating change “comes across as a capitulation,” the analyst tells investors “this quarter exacerbated too many unknowns for us to remain constructive.” The firm’s new price target is based on 8.0 times its 2025 EPS estimate of $7.68, which is down from $9.05, and while Leerink calls this “a heavily penal multiple relative to historical trading ranges,” it argues that it “reflects the level of uncertainty” in Medicare Advantage recovery in particular and still represents a “healthy premium” to Walgreens (WBA).