Leerink upgrades CVS Health to Outperform, sees ‘positively skewed’ reward

Leerink analyst Michael Cherny upgraded CVS Health (CVS) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $75, up from $55. The firm views the reward as “positively skewed on a risk-adjusted basis” given that CVS is seeing the “important stabilization signs we’ve been waiting for” on Aetna and healthcare benefits, the analyst tells investors after earnings. The firm sees initial FY25 guidance, off the back of the Medicare Advantage strategic rebooting and with generally unchanged trajectories on the PBM/HSS business, as “likely driving more upside than downside to our multi-year estimates,” the analyst added.