What's Coming For Express Scripts?

Express Scripts Holding Company ESRX will report its first quarter financial results on Tuesday, after the bell.

A look at Estimize provides a picture of what to expect. The company guided EPS of $1.09, and both the Street and the crowd pretty much agree. Wall Street analysts expect EPS of $1.10 on revenue of $24.272 billion, while the crowd projects EPS of $1.11 on revenue of $24.689 billion.

These results would imply low double-digit growth in relation to the same quarter last year, when Express Scripts reported EPS of $0.99.

The graph below illustrates the history of estimates and actual earnings for the company:

It is also possible to visualize how projections evolved over time:

As seen above, both experts and the crowd have been losing confidence in Express Scripts over the quarter. They both expected earnings to come in well above guidance, but have now converged closer to it.

Analyst Opinion

A few weeks ago, analysts at BMO Capital reiterated a Market Perform rating for Express Scripts, and issued an $89 price target. Before that, Deutsche Bank had reiterated a Hold and a $96 price target.

In its most recent Head-to-Head series, Citi analysts compared the two largest PBM services providers in North America, Express Scripts and CVS Health Corporation, declaring the former as the winner.