CVS Health shares rise as hedge fund pushes for change

While specifics about the hedge fund’s proposals were not available, The Wall Street Journal reported the meeting would include Glenview founder Larry Robbins and CVS CEO Karen Lynch.

CVS may be a household name because of its namesake pharmacies, but it is also the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager. That segment was one of three drug middlemen recently sued by the Federal Trade Commission, which has accused the companies of illegally driving up the price of insulin.

The stock has fallen nearly 23% this year, resulting in a $26 billion drop in market cap. The company has cut its full-year earnings guidance for three straight quarters, with the most recent number in August coming in 23% lower than the original figure given in December.

CVS is also the parent of Aetna, the country’s third-largest health insurance provider by market share and the segment largely to blame for the company’s recent woes.

While revenues in the segment last quarter rose 21% year over year, operating income fell by 40% after a gamble by Aetna to attract hundreds of thousands of seniors to its Medicare plans backfired. These new enrollees have generated much higher costs than expected, a trend that has hit the entire industry as more seniors finally undergo procedures delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Aetna president Brian Kane left the company after the disappointing results last quarter. The company announced that Lynch, who led the health insurance company for six years, would assume direct control of the segment along with CVS CFO Tom Cowhey.

Glenview has activist history in healthcare

According to the Journal, Glenview owns roughly $700 million of CVS stock, or about 1% of the company’s outstanding shares. Recent regulatory filings showed Glenview increased its holding of CVS by 440% in the second quarter, according to the data from S&P Global.

Robbins has cooperated with various healthcare companies in the past, and the Journal said he was confident he could convince leadership to pursue a new path.

Glenview, which has roughly $5.6 billion in assets under management, per PitchBook, has not been afraid to apply activist pressure in the past, however. In 2017, the hedge fund pressed for the ouster of four board members at Tenet Healthcare, whose chief executive eventually resigned.

While the hedge fund invests in a variety of industries, Tenet, CVS and fellow healthcare insurer Cigna make up its three largest public holdings.

Household names across several industries have been targeted by activist investors in recent months. Elliott Management, the $70 billion hedge fund founded by Paul Singer, helped force out the CEO of Starbucks in August and continues to push for the ouster of Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan.