CVS Health Quarterly Sales Rise 7.4%

CVS Health Corp's profit beat estimates for the fifth straight quarter, boosted by higher pharmacy claims and strong sales in its business that provides medication and services for serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer.

Revenue from the company's pharmacy services business rose about 12 percent in the second quarter. The business, which includes the specialty pharmacy segment, accounts for two-thirds of the company's total revenue.

CVS said on Tuesday that the number of pharmacy claims processed rose 8.7 percent, helped by growth in Medicaid customers.

Same-store sales rose 0.5 percent. Analysts on average had expected a 0.3 percent rise, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

Pharmacy same-store sales rose 4.1 percent, higher than the average analyst estimate of 2.9 percent. Same-store prescription count rose 4.8 percent.

CVS raised the lower end of its 2015 adjusted profit forecast range to $5.11 per share and cut the higher end to $5.18. The company had earlier forecast adjusted profit of $5.08-$5.19 per share.

CVS's net income rose 2.1 percent to $1.27 billion, or $1.12 per share, in the quarter ended June. Net revenue rose 7.4 percent to $37.17 billion.

Excluding items, CVS earned $1.22 per share.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.20 per share and revenue of $37.18 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

CVS shares closed at $112.82 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Ramkumar Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Kirti Pandey)