Pharmacy benefits provider Express Scripts Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) reported on Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings leaped 74%, thanks to its acquisition of Medco Health Solution in last April. Express Script also boosted its outlook on fiscal 2013 earnings, dispelling investors’ concerns over lower pace on earnings growth.
The St. Louis-based Company, which handles drug benefit programs for corporate customers and health plans, saw its shares come under pressure after it raised doubts over Wall Street’s forecast on fiscal 2013 as it feared the total number prescriptions it handles would fall significantly due to fragility in the macroeconomic environment. At that time, the Company did not provide its own earnings guidance.
However, Express Scripts now expects adjusted or non-GAAP earnings of $4.20 to $4.30 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting for $4.20 a share, having slashed their initial estimates by 30 cents a share following the earnings warnings in November.
2013 will mark the first full year of consolidated operations for Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, which was bought for $29.1 billion, to create the largest health benefit manager.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, the Company reported a profit of $504.1 million or 61 cents a share, compared to earnings of $290.4 million or 59 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter.
Stripping onetime items such as acquisition related costs, earnings climbed to $1.05 a share, from 82 cents, in the same period of last year.
Revenue during the quarter increased more than twofold to $27.41 billion.
Analysts’ consensus estimate was for earnings of $1.04 a share on revenue of $27.24 billion
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of $1.04 a share on sales of $27.24 billion. During the quarter adjusted claims–a gauge that keeps a track on monthly prescriptions filled in retail pharmacies and 90-day fills through the company’s mail-order business—jumped 111% to 410.8 million
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