Just maybe Walmart taking some share away with LCI generics. :+ )
Generic drugs weigh on June sales at CVS, Rite Aid
Thursday July 5, 10:52 am ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Drugstores CVS/Caremark Corp. (NYSE:CVS - News) and Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE:RAD - News) on Thursday posted higher June sales at stores open at least a year, but both chains' pharmacy sales growth was tempered by the introduction of cheaper generic drugs.
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CVS, the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager, said total June same-store sales rose 5.4 percent in the five weeks that ended June 30. At Rite Aid, same-store sales rose 0.7 percent in the four weeks that ended June 30.
At each chain, the rise in same-store sales of general merchandise such as candy and cosmetics, outpaced same-store pharmacy sales. Such growth was also seen at Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG - News), which reported its June sales results on Tuesday.
Generic drugs sell at lower prices than their branded counterparts but are generally more profitable for drugstores.
June same-store pharmacy sales increased 4.7 percent at CVS, but were negatively impacted by generic introductions, the company said.
At smaller rival Rite Aid, pharmacy same-store sales rose 0.6 percent, and included a hit from new generic introductions.
CVS's shares were down 6 cents at $36.48 after falling to $36.30 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while shares of Rite Aid slipped 5 cents to $6.32.
CVS said same-store sales of general merchandise rose 6.8 percent in June. At Rite Aid, such sales rose 1.1 percent.
CVS also posted same-store sales results for the second quarter that were up 5.7 percent, with pharmacy same-store sales 5.7 percent higher and front-end same-store sales up 5.9 percent.
Rite Aid said June drugstore sales jumped 54.8 percent to $2.08 billion, aided by the June 4 acquisition of the U.S. Eckerd and Brooks chains from Canada's Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc (Toronto:PJCA.TO - News). The Brooks and Eckerd stores were excluded from the company's same-store sales results.
On Tuesday, Walgreen posted a 5.1 percent rise in June same-store sales and said total sales rose 9.5 percent to $4.38 billion. Walgreen's June same-store sales of general merchandise rose 6.8 percent, while pharmacy same-store sales were 4.2 percent higher.
As of June 30, CVS had 6,177 stores, Walgreen had 5,807 stores and Rite Aid had 5,165 stores.
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