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CVS Caremark hikes 2012 earnings view

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- CVS Caremark on Tuesday hiked its 2012 adjusted earnings outlook to a range of $3.32 to $3.38 a share, from its earlier estimate of $3.23 to $3.33 a share. Wall Street analysts expected the retail pharmacy company to earn $3.33 a share on average in 2012, according to data from FactSet. CVS Caremark said it'll book a gain of about 5 cents a share in the second half of 2012 related to the prescription business expected to be retained from the contractual impasse between Walgreen Co. and Express Scripts . CVS Caremark's second-quarter profit increased to $967 million, or 75 cents a share, from $814 million, or 60 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted profit in the latest quarter totaled 81 cents a share. Revenue climbed 16% to $30.7 billion. Analysts estimated earnings of 79 cents a share and revenue of $31 billion, on average, for CVS Caremark's second-quarter results.