CVS Health just gave the market a fresh jolt of confidence.

The company raised its 2025 profit guidance again and forecast 2026 adjusted earnings of 7.00 to 7.20 dollars per share, slightly above Wall Street expectations, driven by stronger margins at its Aetna insurance arm and its Caremark pharmacy-benefit business. It expects at least 400 billion dollars of revenue in 2026 and plans to keep tightening costs and exiting weaker lines.

CVS also confirmed it will pull out of Obamacare exchange plans in 2026, underscoring how rising medical costs are squeezing some insurers in that space.

Winners

Winners – Integrated healthcare giants

Reason: CVS has shown that a big, diversified model (insurance plus PBM plus pharmacies) can still grow earnings even with cost pressure, which supports similar names.

CVS Health ($CVS)

UnitedHealth Group ($UNH)

Winners – Managed care peers

Reason: Strong guidance and margin recovery at CVS’s Aetna unit are a positive read across for other large health insurers that use scale and pricing to manage medical inflation.

Elevance Health ($ELV)

The Cigna Group ($CI)

Winners – Pharmacy benefit and drug distribution ecosystem

Reason: CVS highlighted solid performance from its Caremark PBM and pharmacy operations, which supports sentiment around the broader drug distribution and pharmacy-benefit supply chain.

Cardinal Health ($CAH)

McKesson ($MCK)

Losers

Losers – ACA marketplace focused insurers

Reason: CVS exiting Obamacare exchanges in 2026 is a clear signal that these plans are hard to run profitably when medical costs are elevated, which weighs on names heavily exposed to that market.

Oscar Health ($OSCR)

Centene ($CNC)

Losers – Traditional retail pharmacy chains

Reason: CVS is leaning on higher-margin insurance and PBM earnings, plus cost cuts and a turnaround plan, while pure-play retail pharmacies have less diversification and more exposure to front-of-store weakness.

Walgreens Boots Alliance ($WBA)

Kroger (pharmacy operations within $KR)

Losers – Standalone digital health and navigation platforms

Reason: CVS is building an AI-powered, integrated engagement platform that ties together insurance, pharmacy and care, which can make it harder for separate digital health apps to be the main “front door” for patients.

Teladoc Health ($TDOC)

Hims and Hers Health ($HIMS)

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