Express Scripts Earns $1.73 per Share

After the closing bell, Express Scripts (ESRX) reported Q2 earnings of $1.73 per share. That beat Wall Street’s consensus by two cents per share. Earlier Express told us to expect Q2 results to range between $1.70 and $1.74 per share.

Here are some highlights:

Adjusted claims of 350.0 million, flat
GAAP net income of $801.8 million, up 11%
GAAP earnings per diluted share of $1.37, up 21%
EBITDA of $1,824.1 million, up 1%
EBITDA per adjusted claim of $5.21, up 1%
Adjusted net income of $1,011.6 million, up 1%
Adjusted earnings per diluted share of $1.73, up 10%
Net cash flow provided by operating activities of $1,081.2 million, up 146%

“We leverage the power and potential of our independent model to succeed in the areas of healthcare that patients and clients value most,” said Tim Wentworth, President and CEO, Express Scripts. “In just the past quarter, we launched two new ways to deliver more value directly to members at the point of sale, increased our ability to lower drug prices via a new group purchasing organization agreement, acquired a leading workers’ compensation benefits company, and introduced novel SafeGuardRx solutions to address complex, expensive illnesses. These are just a few highlights, but they underline the unique value of our flexibility, innovation and independence: only Express Scripts can partner with anyone in the supply chain at any time to deliver better value to patients, clients and shareholders.”

“We are currently developing a multi-year, enterprise-wide initiative to transform our organization by the end of 2021,” added Eric Slusser, Chief Financial Officer. “We are investing to deliver an improved experience with better engagement and greater efficiency, which will evolve the way we do business with patients, providers and our clients. Based on our work to date, we estimate the initiative will deliver savings of approximately $550 million to $600 million annually by 2021. This initiative will also allow us to continue tackling the challenges plan sponsors face in an increasingly complex healthcare environment with an industry-leading cost position,” said Slusser.

And now for guidance:

The Company increased its guidance for 2017 adjusted earnings per diluted share from a range of $6.90 to $7.04 to a range of $6.95 to $7.05, which represents growth of 10% over 2016 adjusted earnings per diluted share results at the mid-point of the range.

The Company expects total adjusted claims for the third quarter of 2017 to be in the range of 340 million to 350 million. Adjusted earnings per diluted share for the third quarter of 2017 is estimated to be in the range of $1.88 to $1.92, which represents growth of 8% to 10% over the third quarter of 2016.

Wall Street had been expecting $1.89 per share for Q3, and $6.97 per share for all of 2017.

Posted by on July 25th, 2017 at 4:11 pm


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