CVS' fundamentals make it a safe play
Pharmacy giant CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) has played an integral in vaccine and Covid-19 testing facilitation. Last week, the company announced that select CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations had begun offering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster shot to eligible populations following approval from the CDC. As the CDC reviews the efficacy of the other booster shots, expect CVS to remain at the forefront of the inoculation process.
CVS stock is up 25% in 2021 and 48% in the last 12 months. Don't expect much contrarian pessimism to unwind and send CVS toward its May 24 record high of $90.61. The majority of analysts rate the stock a "buy" or better, with zero sells on the books. Moreover, a slim 1.2% of the stock's total available float is sold short.
Where there could be unwinding though, is in the options pits. CVS' Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.71 registers in the 93rd percentile of its annual range. This suggests near-term options traders are much more put-heavy than usual right now.
From a fundamental point of view, CVS stock remains an attractive long-term value play. CVS Health Corporation offers a forward dividend of $2.00 and a dividend yield of 2.33%.Not only does CVS stock offer a decent dividend yield, but also a strong forward price-earnings ratio of 10.56 which is a significant improvement on its current price-earnings ratio of 15.69. Furthermore, CVS Health has maintained consistent top- and bottom-line growth in recent years, with its revenues growing 50.6% and net income increasing 9% since fiscal 2017. Overall, CVS stock is one of the safest stocks to buy in the market at the moment.