CVS Predicts an Ugly 2019 After Closing $68 Billion Aetna Deal
- Shares fall 9.4 percent as CEO calls 2019 ‘transition year’
- Company takes new $2.2 billion writedown on 2015 Omnicare deal
CVS Health Corp. said its results this year will be dragged down by rising costs and poor results from a 2015 takeover of nursing-home pharmacy Omnicare, raising questions about whether an ambitious $68 billion purchase of insurer Aetna last year was the right move for the health-care giant.
Just as it works to integrate one of the most ambitious deals in the health-care industry, CVS is being beset by bad news from all sides. A struggling nursing-home industry has created fewer customers for Omnicare, leading to $6.1 billion in writedowns. Higher wages and employee benefits cut into the gains from the 2017 corporate tax overhaul. And one of CVS’s main businesses, pharmacy-benefit management services for insurers and employers, is under attack in Washington.